Chemicals React
by SouthernStars
Summary: Troy Bolton never knew Gabriella Montez existed and Gabriella never wanted to meet Troy. So when they are thrown together to complete an assignment, neither knows how to deal with it. Their friends watch in interest as the chemicals between the two react.
1. Watch Where Your Standing

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: Here is a new story, I decided I needed to have a little fun and this is what I came up with!**

**_Chemicals React_**

**CHAPTER 1**

**WATCH WHERE YOU'RE STANDING**

Gabriella Montez sighed as she walked through the doors of East High. Kids stood in huddles discussing their weekends and the latest basketball game, the boys agreeing on how well the wildcats had played and the girls giggling over which of the basketballer's looked the hottest. Gabriella dodged the cheerleaders who seemed to be giggling over nothing and rolled her eyes, she had never really believed in stereotypes but the cheerleaders at this school somehow managed to fit into the 'I'm-a-helpless-girl-who-cares-more-about-what's-on-my-head-than-what's-in-it' or something along the lines of that, perfectly. Gabriella sighed again, this time in relief as she saw her locker. She reached it quickly and opened it; Gabriella placed her bag in the locker and stood there, her fingers tapping the door trying to remember what she had to get out of the locker.

"Hey" Gabriella jumped when she heard her best friend's voice.

"Oh, hey Taylor, what do we have first?" she asked the African-American girl still staring at her locker.

"Chemistry" she replied and Gabriella nodded reaching in and sorting through her books in search of her notebook and textbook.

Gabriella had just shut the door to her locker when a huge roar echoed in the halls of East High. Taylor and Gabriella exchanged a look as a mob made their way towards the two girls.

"I think that the stars have arrived" Taylor commented sarcastically as they stood and watched the procession, Gabriella nodded in agreement.

Coming towards them was the school's basketball team, surrounded by cheerleaders and nearly everybody who had attended the game on the weekend, which meant that the entire school surrounded the basketball team. Gabriella rolled her eyes as the mob scene passed her and her best friend. It was completely beyond her why the entire school seemed so fascinated by the team. After all, the school had other teams and all of them did as well as the basketball team, yet it was the basketballer's who were the most popular people in school, they ruled the school, it was like living with gods. Personally, Gabriella thought the entire thing was over the top, they were people after all and not gods, no matter what they chose to believe. What was the point in doing all this? They only acknowledged a certain percent of the school; in truth it would surprise Gabriella if they knew anyone outside their basketball team.

"I don't get it, what is it about the basketball team that makes them so special?" Gabriella asked Taylor as the last of the crowd past them, the two girls began to walk to their homeroom.

"Two words, Troy Bolton" Taylor replied dryly and Gabriella rolled her eyes again.

"As in the stuck up I'm-a-big-shot-you-have-to-do-everything-I-say Troy Bolton?" Gabriella asked sarcastically and Taylor nodded with a laugh, they had this conversation nearly every morning and it still amused Taylor to hear her friend talk about Troy like that.

"As in that Troy Bolton, I don't get why you're so mean to him. What has he ever done to you?" Taylor asked and Gabriella laughed.

"Taylor, how could Troy do anything to me when he doesn't know I exist?" Gabriella asked and Taylor thought about it.

"True, your point being?" she said and Gabriella laughed again as the stopped outside their homeroom.

"My-" Gabriella never got to finish her sentence because as soon as she started she was shoved out of the doorway and half the basketball team filed past her into the room.

Gabriella felt herself bang up against a locker and she winced in pain as she felt something sharp dig into her back. Slowly she pushed off the locker and walked over to Taylor, who was standing there looking horrified at what had just happened.

"And that is why I hate jocks" Gabriella growled as she felt her wrist throb.

"Hey are you alright?" a deep voice asked sounding concerned.

Gabriella spun around and met brilliant blue eyes. It took her a moment to register that she was looking at Troy Bolton. Why was he talking to her? Gabriella narrowed her eyes at him.

"I don't know why don't you get slammed into a locker by your friends and see how you feel afterwards?" she snapped at him.

Troy stared at the girl in front of him, and wondered why she'd taken that tone with him. He'd only wanted to know if she was okay. Suddenly his eyes narrowed to mirror her own and his tone became cold.

"Whatever, you really should watch where your standing" he muttered and Gabriella stared at him in shock as he walked past her.

"Wait, I should watch where I'm standing? When they're the ones that should have actually realized that I exist?" Gabriella shot at him, folding her arms.

"Oh, realize you exist? Shouldn't that have been, realized you were standing where you were standing?" he shot back, setting his jaw.

Gabriella rolled her eyes and let out a cynical laugh.

"I thought exist would have gotten the point across better. I mean you all actually know that people exist outside your little world, right?" Gabriella asked.

"Of course I know the people exist, if I didn't would I be standing here talking to you?" Troy folded his arms, knowing he had just won as the girl threw her arms up in the air.

"Why are you talking to me?" Gabriella snapped at him as their homeroom teacher walked towards them.

"You tell me" he replied heatedly.

Miss Darbus watched the two with interest. She was certain that Troy had no idea who Gabriella was, but as she watched them she noticed something there that probably shouldn't have been there given how furious they both looked. Quietly she walked up to them and cleared her throat.

"Forgive me, but shouldn't you three be in the room?" she asked noticing Taylor McKessie off to the side.

"Three?" Troy asked still glaring at Gabriella.

"Yes three, see this is why I asked you if you knew that people existed outside your own world!" Gabriella smirked at him knowing that she had finally won the argument.

Troy stared at her and than finally took notice of the other girl standing there with her mouth open watching them argue. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a frustrated breath.

"Watch where you're standing next time" he shot at her knowing she wouldn't like it.

Gabriella's mouth dropped open as watched him walk into the classroom. She turned back to Taylor who looked just as stunned as she seemed. She than turned to Miss Darbus who had been watching the final word with the two in mounting amusement.

"In, you two" she ordered them eyes twinkling.

Gabriella watched as Taylor walked in and Miss Darbus followed her. Next time she would watch where she was standing.

**A/N: Don't take this story to seriously; it's my way of taking a break in between writing 'Crash World' and 'Saving Me'. I'm just letting off steam basically, but anyway I hoped you like it!**


	2. You're Joking

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: Okay here is the next chapter! I told you I'd update soon! Well this is soon for me anyway! Enjoy!**

_**Chemicals React**_

**CHAPTER 2**

**YOU'RE JOKING**

Gabriella slammed her locker shut. She was in such a bad mood that not even Taylor had tried to reason with her. And she'd thought that she was going to have a good day! What a joke. Gabriella knew that she was scowling; she was scowling because she knew exactly why she was in a bad mood. If she ever saw Troy Bolton again she was going to throttle him. That was the only reason she was in a bad mood, the stupid idiot. He'd just had to argue with her, hadn't he? Deep down Gabriella knew that the argument was actually her fault, but there was no way that her pride was going to let her admit it. So she'd settled on blaming Troy, it was easier and it gave her a reason to dislike him more than she already did.

"Gabriella! Hey Gabi, wait up" she heard Taylor's voice as she began to walk away from her locker. She stopped and turned to her.

"Your still in a bad mood" Taylor commented upon seeing her friends expression, Gabriella shrugged not really wanting to discuss it, Taylor rolled her eyes as they began to walk again.

She knew why Gabriella was in a bad mood, she sometimes wished her friend didn't have so much pride. It wasn't that she was self-absorbed, far from it, Gabriella was probably the most giving person that Taylor had ever met, but she was also stubborn and refused to give up when she needed to give up. It was a trait that Taylor admired but also got quite sick of. Because Gabriella could go on about things for days and days, which meant Taylor would hear about exactly the same thing for days and days, which left her exhausted because she kept on giving the same answer for days and days.

"Hey, you remember that big English project we're doing? On authors?" Taylor asked Gabriella after a moment; she saw Gabriella nod slightly and continued "Well I found out this morning we're getting paired up with someone in our year, I think it's a ploy to get us to mix more" she said and Gabriella nearly laughed.

"That'll work really well, no-one in our year gets on with anyone outside their own group" Gabriella said her voice laced with sarcasm.

"Yeah that's what I thought, except what if we all end up getting along?" Taylor asked Gabriella hesitantly, unsure whether Gabriella's mood had changed slightly.

"Yeah, sure, we'll all end up getting along when pigs fly" Gabriella snorted and Taylor relaxed slightly, she hadn't blown up that meant her mood was changing.

They reached their classroom and Gabriella looked down and groaned. She'd brought the wrong book, sighing she turned around and headed back to her locker.

"Tell Mrs Alexander that I've gone to get the right book" Gabriella called over her shoulder to Taylor who nodded and entered the classroom.

Gabriella walked slowly, her mind wandering as her footsteps echoed in the nearly empty hallway. Who was she going to be partnered with? In the past when teachers did this they usually put her with Taylor, because they knew that together they would give them a perfect assignment, which was something teachers adored. But Taylor's words had gotten her thinking that maybe she wouldn't be paired with her at all. If they wanted to break it up, Gabriella was almost certain that she wouldn't be paired with anyone she knew. Well anyone from the Chem club anyway. She opened her locker and frowned as she tried to remember who was in her English class, unfortunately for her most of her classes contained nearly all of the basketball team. Gabriella fished around her locker for a minute before she found her English book; she shut the locker as her mind went over everyone she knew in her class. Chad, Jason, Zeke, Ryan, Sharpay, Taylor, Kelsi, Glen, Robert, Talia, Sian, Daniel, Louise, Alexis and Alex, they were all the people in her class. Gabriella frowned as she realized that she had missed someone. Who had she missed? Gabriella went over the names in her mind again and had no idea who she had missed. She was sure that it was a he, but she had no idea who it was. She was certain that she had met him before, but she just couldn't remember who it was. It was beginning to annoy her as she reached her classroom and opened the door. Gabriella wasn't exactly sure what happened next all she knew was that when she had regained some control of what was happening. She discovered was being held by the waist by none other than Troy Bolton and that her arms had ended up around his neck. She heard the class explode with noise and winced.

"Um" she said wanting to say something smart but failing completely.

"Can't think of anything to say to me?" Troy asked her his eyes sparkling.

"How come I'm facing you and not the class?" Gabriella replied as she realized that ten seconds before she had been facing the class and now she was facing Troy.

"I ran into you and you spun around and than you began to fall, I caught you and now here we are" Troy explained standing up straight and pulling her up with him.

"Thank you, question how could you not see me? I was standing right in the doorway" Gabriella said letting go of his neck as his arms slid from her waist.

"I did see you I was just running late, I couldn't exactly slow down in time" he informed her and Gabriella eyed him.

"Are you serious? You were coming from the opposite direction to me, I was clearly in your view" she snapped at him and he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Yes I am serious, no you weren't in my view because there is a corner back there and I'm pretty sure that, unless you have x-ray vision, you can't see around it or through it" he shot back, what was with this girl? She seemed to attack him for everything he did.

"Okay so I wasn't in your view, you have ears don't you? The hallway is empty and I'm wearing heels, they echo, couldn't you have heard them?" Gabriella snapped back and Troy went red, he had heard her. Gabriella folded her arms and a triumphant look settled on her face.

"Okay, so I heard you. So what? I didn't know where you were going did I?" Troy asked heatedly and Gabriella shrugged.

"But you just said that you saw me, wouldn't you have put two and two together and figured the footsteps had belonged to me?" she asked.

"That still wouldn't have changed the fact that I couldn't have slowed down in time" Troy said, she'd won the last argument he wasn't about to let her win this one.

Gabriella opened her mouth to reply and the teacher, who had been watching the two in mounting amusement decided it was time to intervene. After all she had a lesson to teach and although she could tell that he class was spellbound by the Troy and Gabriella and their heated argument, there was an assignment to explain.

"Well, Troy, Gabriella, I'm glad that you two seem to get along so well. I'm sure that your project will be very unique" Mrs Alexander said and nearly laughed as she watched their mouths drop open and their faces go pale.

Gabriella couldn't believe it, out of all people she had to be paired with _Troy Bolton_. King of East High, she suddenly realized that he had been the person she couldn't remember and groaned inwardly at the irony of it. How was she meant to do this?

Troy raised his eyebrows in shock, how was he meant to work with her? She was impossible, she argued with him even if he did something right. He didn't even know her name and he was now meant to present a complete assignment on some author? There was no way that that was going to happen.

"Mrs Alexander-" he started.

"Mrs A-" Gabriella started at exactly the same time.

"Yes?" she raised her eyebrows at them and waited.

"You can't put us together, you saw us just than we can't hold a normal conversation" Troy spoke up first and Mrs Alexander felt her lips tilt upwards slightly.

"That's an interesting use of words considering you didn't know I existed until this morning" Gabriella said forgetting she was meant to say something to Mrs Alexander.

"Gabriella Montez, smartest girl in our year, I knew you existed before this morning" Troy shot at her and Gabriella narrowed her eyes at him.

"I cannot work with him, there is no way we'd get it done" Gabriella cried out and they both waited silently for Mrs Alexander to respond.

"I can see you two will present the best project out of this class" Mrs Alexander responded smiling and Gabriella and Troy both groaned.

"You have got to be kidding me" Troy muttered as they made their way to the joint desk they had to share.

"You're joking" Gabriella muttered darkly and knew that there was nothing at all to joke about. She was stuck with him and everyone knew it too. Gabriella sighed as they sat down and we're presented with the sheet with all the information on it.

"Who's Jane Austen?" Troy asked his eyes scanning the sheet. He looked over in shock as he heard Gabriella's head hit the table. Maybe there wasn't anything to joke about.

**A/N: Done! I hope you liked it, cause I had tons of fun writing it! I'll update soon!**


	3. You're Late

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: Sadly 'Saving Me' is over and I'm having a rather annoying writers block with 'Crash World' so 'Chemicals React' is the only story that I have any ideas for which will probably make all you guys who have reviewed pretty happy! That's my way of saying thanks for the reviews! Anyway next chapter enjoy!**

_**Chemicals React**_

**CHAPTER 3**

**CHAPTER 3**

**YOU'RE LATE**

Gabriella walked up to her locker the next morning, her head had ceased throbbing, she had regretted banging her head on the table soon after she had done it yesterday, and her mood had improved slightly since yesterday. Only slightly though. Gabriella was almost positive that once she saw Troy her mood was going to worsen. Actually, she _was_ positive that once she saw Troy her mood was going to worsen. Just thinking about him caused Gabriella's muscles to tense and her fist to curl into a ball. Hate was as feeling that Gabriella very rarely felt but she was almost positive that it was exactly what she was feeling about Troy. How was she going to get through one period with him? Gabriella was seriously contemplating skipping English when Taylor approached her cautiously. Gabriella turned to look at her and, if her mood had been better, Gabriella would have probably laughed at the nervous expression on Taylor's face. Instead she nodded at her friend curtly and turned back to her locker, this time she decided to open it.

"Hey" Taylor said quietly, she decided to go cautiously in case one wrong word could set off Gabriella.

"Relax Taylor, you won't be able to set me off" Gabriella told her quite calmly, Taylor gave her an odd look and wondered if she should venture into a very delicate subject with her friend.

"Okay, so I'm guessing that Tr-" Taylor stopped talking when Gabriella shot her a vicious look.

"Don't even go there" Gabriella warned her and Taylor wondered if she should tell her what they had first.

"What do we have first?" Taylor winced when the question burst from Gabriella's lips.

"Um" Taylor said bracing herself for an explosion, Gabriella turned to eye her best friend suspiciously.

"Taylor" Gabriella said impatiently.

"English" Taylor replied and waited.

Gabriella stared at her and than turned back to her locker stuck her head into and let loose a bloodcurdling scream. Taylor winced as the occupants of East High stared at Gabriella, who still had her head in her locker.

"Finished?" Taylor asked after a moment and Gabriella pulled her head out of her locker and stared at her.

"I swear to god Taylor-" she started and this time it was Taylor giving her a warning look.

"Look Gabriella, I know you're not ecstatic about being partnered with Troy, okay that was an understatement," Taylor conceded when Gabriella shot her a look "But I don't get why you're going on about it. I mean you've worked with heaps of people you don't like; you got partnered with Sharpay once for god's sake! What's the difference between them and Troy?" she continued and Gabriella slammed her locker shut with a loud bang, the people standing next to her locker jumped and Gabriella ignored them as she walked past.

"What's the difference? There's a huge difference, an enormous difference, a monumental difference between him and them, Taylor!" Gabriella exclaimed and Taylor nodded and waited for her to continue.

"What's the difference?" Taylor asked when Gabriella didn't continue.

Gabriella didn't reply, mainly because she was completely and utterly stumped. She knew what the difference was but she couldn't put it into words; it was one of those things where she knew what it was but there was no way that she could put it into words. She just didn't like him. Period.

"Forget it" Gabriella muttered when she saw the basketball team approaching.

Troy looked up and silently groaned when he saw Gabriella walking in his direction. He seriously didn't like that girl. He barely knew her and already he was well on his way to hating her. Both times he had spoken to her, he had argued with her and now he was meant to work with her for three weeks? Troy ran a hand through his hand as he heard Zeke say that they had English first. Scratch the three weeks; Troy wondered if he would come out of one period with her in a good mood.

Gabriella was sitting at her desk, tapping the desk impatiently, her fingers drumming in a relentless pattern. He was late. What a surprise. Every once in a while Mrs Alexander would walk past and shoot her a worried look. Gabriella ignored the looks, because every second that past, her anger grew. As much as she hated the guy, she did want to get a good mark on this project, considering Mrs Alexander had announced to the class that the project was worth close to half their mark for the term. Finally Troy ran into the classroom completely out of breath.

"Sorry I'm late, I ran into my Dad and he wanted to run over something with me and he kept me for longer than I expected" Troy apologized breathlessly when Mrs Alexander swooped down on him.

She eyed him and than nodded. Troy smiled at her and than turned to Gabriella. Her expression told him everything that he needed to know. _Uh-oh_ he thought as he approached her. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"You're late" she snapped at him as soon he was in earshot.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious" Troy shot back and Gabriella folded her arms a sour look taking residence on her face.

"Don't mention it" she replied as he took the seat opposite her.

"What are we doing?" Troy asked and Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"You can have three guesses" she told him sarcastically and Troy raised his eyebrows.

"Three guesses? What are you? Trying to be nice?" he replied equally sarcastic.

Gabriella scoffed "If I was trying to be nice I would have given you more than three guesses" she informed him and Troy shrugged, which irritated Gabriella even more, he seemed so calm and cool.

"But if you weren't trying to be nice why didn't you give me less than three guesses?" Troy said smartly and Gabriella shrugged.

Troy knew he had her there and he silently congratulated himself for keeping his cool during this argument. Ignoring her pointedly he pulled the sheet with the outline of the assignment towards him and began to read.

Gabriella waited while he read, her fingers resuming their drumming. Every now and than Troy would shoot her an annoyed look, which would cause her to drum louder, she was enjoying the chance to get under his skin.

"Will you stop that!" the speed to which Troy slammed his hand over hers stunned Gabriella so much she couldn't speak for few seconds.

"Sorry" she replied tartly prying his hand off hers they glared at each for a moment.

"Sure you are" he muttered as she resumed the drumming, Troy kept his cool for a moment longer and than repeated his previous action.

"What!?" Gabriella exclaimed desperately trying to pull her hand away from his.

"Give up will you! I am trying to find out what we're meant to do and if you keep doing that we're never going to get it done okay?" Troy asked patronizingly and Gabriella nearly let loose.

"I'm impatient okay? And we will get it done, we have three weeks of this to look forward to" Gabriella snapped back still trying to remove her hand from under Troy's.

"Yeah, don't remind me, but we're not going to get to the research part until you let me read this!" Troy shot back, neither noticing the classroom had gone quiet or Mrs Alexander approaching them a disapproving look on her face.

"Will you let go of my hand!?" Gabriella half-yelled frustrated with the fact that he wouldn't let go of her hand.

"Miss Montez! Mr Bolton!" Mrs Alexander snapped at them and their heads both snapped up.

It was only than that they realized how close their faces had become and that both were breathing a little too heavily from rage.

"Yes?" Gabriella asked as Troy let go of her hand.

"Outside, now" she snapped at them.

Gabriella didn't answer, she picked up her bag and stomped past Chad and Taylor, who were watching their two best friends with open mouths, Troy right behind her. Gabriella folded her arms and half-turned her body from Troy as he pulled the door shut.

"You know this is your fault" Troy said simply, wanting to get under her skin more than ever now. Gabriella spun to face him.

"How is it my fault? You're the one that wouldn't let go of my hand!" she exclaimed and he shoved his hands into the pockets of the jeans he wore.

"You're the one that wouldn't stop tapping the desk" he pointed out and Gabriella frowned at him.

"Oh my god, you are impossible" she cried out throwing her hands into the air.

"I'm not as bad as you" he replied as Mrs Alexander opened the door.

"Mr Bolton, Miss Montez, instead of putting you on detention I'm going to add to your project, I want two book reports, one on 'Sense and Sensibility' and 'Pride and Prejudice' and a film review of the adaptation of 'Pride and Prejudice. Am I clear?" she snapped at the two teenagers who kept on shooting the other hostile looks through out the instructions.

"Yes ma'am" Troy mumbled.

"Yes Mrs Alexander" Gabriella nodded and Mrs Alexander nodded, satisfied, as the bell rang. She turned back to dismiss the rest of the class, leaving Troy and Gabriella in the hallway.

"Next time don't be late" Gabriella finally said as their class began to file out. Troy opened his mouth to respond and turned to find her already swallowed up in the crowd. He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath as his friends approached him as he thought about the arguments that they had just had. Troy didn't know why but he was keeping score but he was and at the moment it stood at Gabriella two and Troy two, they hadn't gotten to finish their last argument.

**A/N: That was fun! I love writing them fighting cause its just not what Troy and Gabriella do. I'll update soon!**


	4. Fire and Ice

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: Here is the next chapter!**

_**Chemicals React**_

**CHAPTER 4**

**FIRE AND ICE**

Gabriella pulled open her locker with a little more force than needed. '_Aren't I in a good mood?_' she thought sarcastically, throwing her books into her locker, for once not really caring where they landed and if they were out of order. Gabriella knew that if this was a cartoon there would be steam coming out of her ears. She was so mad at him, she'd been kicked out a class because of him, her hand felt bruised because of him _and _she was burning from embarrassment because of him. At the current moment Gabriella was seriously considering the option of murdering Troy in his sleep. It would be one less problem she'd have to worry about.

"No you can't murder Troy in his sleep, despite what you may think the world _will_ actually miss him" Taylor's voice broke through her thoughts about the best possible way to murder him and Gabriella noted the amused tone she'd used.

"I hadn't gotten around to that point" Gabriella replied shutting her locker door and Taylor gave her look that told her she didn't believe her.

"Sure you didn't, you know that's the first time I think I've seen you get kicked out of class" Taylor commented the amused tone now evident.

"It is the first time I've been kicked out of class, no it wasn't fun and no I'm not blaming anyone but Troy" Gabriella answered all of Taylor's unanswered question with a roll of her eyes.

"You know you two were yelling" Taylor said and Gabriella shrugged, not really wanting to discuss it.

"So? It's not like you've never yelled in class" she replied moodily and Taylor almost laughed.

"Okay, I've yelled in class, but I've never yelled at anyone the way you and Troy were yelling at each other. Chad observed that he'd never seen Troy so riled up before and, you know, he's known Troy since kindergarten" Taylor said conversationally, Gabriella let out cynical laugh.

"Wow, he must feel really special" Gabriella said sarcastically and Taylor nodded enthusiastically. Gabriella stared at her friend, raising her eyebrows.

"Taylor, did you at all note the sarcasm that I said that in?" Gabriella asked her spaced out friend and Taylor seemed to snap back to reality, she looked at Gabriella as if she hadn't realized she was there.

"Of course I did!" she exclaimed and Gabriella gave her an odd look.

"So what's it like working with Chad?" she asked and Taylor's entire face lit up.

'_Oh. My. God._' Gabriella thought hoping she was seeing things as Taylor started to ramble on about all these things about Troy's best friend. Gabriella was pretty sure that by the time Taylor had finished her eyebrows had completely disappeared and her bad mood had completely disappeared.

"Oh Gabriella, he's not like I thought he was at all. He's a lot of fun and he really wants to learn" Taylor finished and than looked at her friend, who's face was bright red and who seemed to be shaking.

Gabriella was desperately trying to suppress laughter as Taylor finished her speech. Two days and it seemed like Taylor had completely fallen for Chad. Although Gabriella knew she'd hurt her friends feeling by laughing she couldn't help it. It sounded so _stupid_, Taylor falling for a jock. To be exact Troy Bolton's best friend, Chad Danforth and although the thought of him sent a jolt of hate through her body, Gabriella ignored it and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Gabriella what's wrong? Are you alright?" Taylor asked concerned about her friends silence and shaking.

She jumped when Gabriella started to laugh hard, leaning against her locker. Taylor watched as Gabriella tried to regain control of her actions, after the fifth attempt Taylor was tapping her foot impatiently and checking her watch every ten seconds. Finally after nearly five minutes of laughter Gabriella calmed down enough to notice her friends annoyed expression.

"Done?" Taylor asked as Gabriella leaned up against the locker and closed her eyes.

"I think so" Gabriella replied an amused smile still plastered on her lips.

"You know it's a good thing it's free period otherwise we'd get a detention for being very, very late" Taylor said as two cheerleaders walked up to them.

"Uh, excuse me but your in front of my locker" one of them said nastily and Gabriella stared at them and than turned her head to look at the locker she was leaning on.

"No, I'm pretty sure that this is my locker" she replied and Taylor watched the cheerleaders curiously, every once in a while they would glance up the hallway as if they were waiting for something.

"I can tell you right now, that this is my locker" the cheerleader snapped at Gabriella, who folded her arms and began to look rather annoyed.

"No its not" she replied as the girl glanced up the hallway again, something in her face changed and Gabriella raised her eyebrows as the other girl giggled. She felt someone tug her sleeve, but ignored it as the cheerleader tossed her hair and returned to arguing with Gabriella.

"Yes it is" she insisted and Gabriella smiled despite herself, this was amusing.

"If it's your locker, what's the combination?" Gabriella threw the question in to get the girl off-balance, it worked or at least she thought it had until she heard the other girl giggle and turned to find Troy and his minions, looking extra sweaty and giving off a faint odor, standing directly in front of her.

"Troy tell her that this is my locker" the girl who had been arguing with Gabriella whined and Gabriella watched as Troy's jaw tightened.

"Hi Chad" she heard Taylor say, Gabriella directed her attention away from Troy and to Chad, whose face seemed to soften when he saw Taylor.

"Hey Taylor" he replied smiling and Gabriella snorted, Troy looked at her curious despite the fact he didn't want to be where he was.

An awkward silence followed, Gabriella began to wonder if Troy was going to say anything when on of the cheerleaders who seemed to be waiting for something to happen spoke up.

"Well? Aren't you two going to do anything?" she asked impatiently and both Troy and Gabriella looked at her strangely.

"What do you want us to do? Argue?" Troy asked.

"It's the only thing Troy can do without screwing up" Gabriella added and earned a glare from Troy, she ignored it, her mood steadily changing.

"No, didn't you guys make out in class this morning? English, I think it was" she replied and their mouths dropped open.

"I DID WHAT?!" they both shouted and the girls jumped completely unprepared for that reaction.

"Well, yeah, didn't you? I mean his hand was on top of yours and you were both breathing heavily and than got sent out of the room" they both said incredibly fast and Troy and Gabriella spun to face each other.

"This is your fault!" she hissed at him, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"My fault! You were the one that wouldn't stop tapping!" Troy snapped back, his jaw tightening more noticeably now.

"You're the one that wouldn't let go of my hand!" Gabriella shot back; their noses were almost touching as the hallway began to take note of what was happening.

Taylor and Chad watched the two; they could feel the tension mounting as they exchanged insults. They made quite a pair, Gabriella, petite, dark and fiery and Troy, tall, not nearly as dark but not light either, and cool. They were like fire and ice, clashing whenever they made contact. Except this ice wouldn't melt and this fire wasn't going to burn out. Taylor moved behind Chad slightly as the tension reached boiling point.

"Hell hath no fury" Gabriella spat out; she could feel his breath on her cheek and ignored the faint shiver that went up and down her back.

"I'll remember that next time I see you" Troy told her furiously, he could feel her breath on his neck and ignored the faint spark that ran over his skin.

"Fine" she snapped and stormed off in the opposite direction of him, Troy doing exactly the same leaving a stunned crowd of teenagers.

As Gabriella walked she felt her mind work furiously and it nearly drove her mad knowing who had one the argument.

Troy stomped past students, ignoring their looks of shock, the score had changed, he knew who had one the argument and still it didn't calm him. After all it stood at Troy three, Gabriella two.

**A/N: All done! Thanks for all the reviews guys! I'll update soon!**


	5. The Rumors Are True

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: The next chapter is here!!!**

_**Chemicals React**_

_**­**_

**CHAPTER 5**

**THE RUMORS ARE TRUE**

Gabriella stared at the contents of her locker. In a week it had gone from one of the most organized lockers in the school to a complete bomb and it was because her mood hadn't improved at all. Gabriella had no idea how her mother, Taylor or any of her other friends had put up with her. All because of one stupid, horrible, annoyingly smart, basketball-orientated guy. She and Troy had barely spoken to each other since the rumor, even though they had English nearly every day and every English lesson had been dedicated to the stupid assignment. Gabriella had honestly never thought she could be as furious at anyone as she was with Troy. That guy seriously knew how to push her buttons; every time he had spoken to her it had been in a sarcastic tone and to Gabriella it was like adding insult to injury. She'd never appreciated anyone being sarcastic to her, even when she was sarcastic to everyone else around her. They'd had one major argument since the blow up in the hallway and it had ended with them being kicked out of class and put on detention for the rest of the week. That whole fiasco had been like rubbing salt into a sore wound. She really hated him at the moment and there was nothing that was going to change her opinion.

"You're thinking about Troy" Taylor said walking up to her friend an amused look on her face.

"I don't know why you find it amusing, cause its not" Gabriella growled at her finally finding her chemistry book wedged in between the back of her locker and three textbooks.

Taylor didn't reply; she knew that if she did Gabriella would just bite her head off all over again. But truthfully, nearly everyone in the school, including the teachers, found Troy and Gabriella's arguments possibly the most amusing in the school. It was clear to everyone around them that they found each other attractive. The tension whenever they were together was hard to miss; the only people who seemed to miss it were Troy and Gabriella themselves. They were so intent on hating each other that neither took time to actually notice the other at all. It was one of the reasons that the school found them so amusing together, they were completely oblivious to each other.

"Taylor? Taylor!" Gabriella half-shouted and Taylor jumped.

Gabriella looked at her friend, not bothering to refer to Chad, after all he was normally the reason she zoned out during a conversation or during anything basically.

"What?" Taylor replied impatiently as Gabriella eyed her.

"Do we have chemistry first or gym class?" she asked rolling her eyes.

"What am I? Your personal diary?" Taylor snapped back and immediately regretted her words when Gabriella shot her a look worthy of any ice queen in existence.

"We have gym" she said softly and Gabriella nodded satisfied with the answer.

Gabriella turned back to the locker and threw her books in and slammed it shut. She turned back to Taylor who was watching her with raised eyebrows.

"What?" she asked and Taylor just shook her head, completely over the way her friend was acting.

Troy was standing with Chad in the gym as he watched his father run over something with Zeke. The bell had rung and they were waiting for the rest of the class to show up. Every now and than he would throw a dark look at the door as if waiting for something that he didn't particularly like to walk through the door. If Gabriella Montez walked through that door in the next thirty seconds Troy knew, without a doubt, he was going to be completely unmanageable for the rest of the day. It probably didn't help that he was already in a bad mood, which incidentally was the same mood he had been in for the past week. All because of that stupid, know-it-all, books-are-my-life girl. She seriously knew how to get under his skin, every time she had spoken to him, which hadn't been much since the hallway argument, it had been like she was talking to a three year old who had no idea what they were doing. Her tone was the reason he had been kicked out of class, _again_, and had landed a detention. She was like a muscle injury, give it time and it would disappear completely. Troy smiled slightly as he thought about what her reaction would be if Gabriella knew that he'd compared her to a muscle injury.

"Dude! That's the first time I've seen you smile since last week!" Chad exclaimed seeing the smile and Troy's smile disappeared and his face darkened as he glanced up at the door again and she walked in.

Gabriella saw Troy standing underneath the basket and ignored him completely as Taylor pulled her in the opposite direction of the two boys. Gabriella watched as Taylor and Chad exchanged a smile, she and Troy, however, exchanged a glare. It would be a lie if Gabriella said that Troy's glare hadn't disturbed her to a point. As much as she didn't want to think about it, his blue eyes were unnerving at times.

"Don't even acknowledge him, you two will get kicked out a class again if you do" Taylor advised quietly as the rest of their class arrived and the coach walked in, followed by a slim woman who seemed to be eyeing the crowd as if searching for something.

"Thanks for the obvious advice" Gabriella muttered as Coach Bolton began to speak.

"As you all know, there is a unit that I'm not particularly fond of" he started and ripple went through the class.

"As I was saying" he gave the class a look before continuing "This unit is something that, surprisingly, nearly everyone who has done it had enjoyed thoroughly and I highly doubt that you all won't enjoy it. Now, I will hand you over to Mrs Pugh, who will instruct you in the Cha Cha!" this announcement was met with groans as the woman stepped up with a smile.

"Well, as I'm sure you're all excited; we'll go through the steps and than pair up and put it all together" Gabriella and Taylor exchanged a glance before making an attempt at paying attention to the instructor.

Gabriella blew out a frustrated breath ten minutes later, she knew the steps but her partner, Jason, had no co-ordination whatsoever. It was like dancing with a monkey, every ten seconds she would wince and he would apologize. Mrs Pugh had come over a few times and attempted to help, it had made absolutely no difference. Finally Gabriella pulled away from him and pushed her hair out of her eyes.

"Don't move, don't touch me, and don't talk okay?" she asked him slowly and he nodded scared by her tone and the look on her face.

"Miss Montez, Mr Cross. Is there a problem?" Mrs Pugh materialized out of no where and Gabriella turned to her.

"Yes, can I please have a new partner?" she asked pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Of course, Mr Bolton, Miss Neilson can you please come over here?" Mrs Pugh called and Gabriella turned away as they approached, horrified at what she had just brought on herself.

"Yes Mrs Pugh?" Gabriella heard Kelsi asked politely, she heard Troy grunt and knew that he had figured out what was happening.

"You need to swap partners, so Mr Cross your with Mrs Neilson and Mr Bolton you can be with Miss Montez" with that Mrs Pugh disappeared almost as quickly as she appeared.

Gabriella turned around to face Troy, the looked at each other, asking the other what they wanted them to do. Gabriella finally made a decision and turned to walk away. She was three steps away from him when he grabbed her hand, spun her around and pulled her close. Troy honestly had no idea what had possessed him to do what he had just done but he had done it. He heard her sharp intake of breath as their chests collided and again wondered why he had done what he had done.

"What are you doing?" Gabriella hissed at him as they began to move, neither really noticing what movements they were making, Gabriella was to busy trying to register what had just happened and Troy was still wondering what he was doing. It wasn't like he actually wanted to dance with her.

"Want to get kicked out of class again?" he replied smartly and she growled as he spun her around, Gabriella twirled her body and they resumed their position, just as close as before.

She didn't reply and instead concentrated on what she was doing. Her attention, however, was diverted by Troy's rock-solid body, which she could clearly make out and feel beneath his shirt. Gabriella suddenly found herself fighting the urge to enjoy the horrible, awful, wonderful feeling of his body so close to hers. '_Stop it Gabriella, stop it, you hate him, you hate him, you hate him_' she chanted over and over again. It helped. Slightly. If she'd thought about it more, it probably would have helped a lot. But she was too busy fighting the urge that had suddenly appeared which she was slowly giving in to.

Troy himself was having trouble concentrating on the dance movements. He was desperately trying to fight the strange sense of elation that was caused by the terrible, appalling, fantastic feeling of Gabriella's body pressed up against his own. '_Get over it Troy, you hate her remember? You hate her_' he told himself sternly. That may have helped a lot, if he hadn't been to busy fighting a battle that he was slowly losing.

"Troy-" Gabriella started after a moment; she was desperate to do anything that got her mind off what was happening to her at the moment.

"Just dance Montez" he cut her off coolly, although at the moment an argument was the one thing that he wanted the most. It would get his mind off what was slowly taking place within him.

"Fine" she sighed and he looked down at her in surprise.

"That's it? Fine? No heated response?" Troy asked the surprise evident; Gabriella looked up at him in shock as she realized he was right.

"Class, you can go now" Coach Bolton yelled before Gabriella had a chance to respond.

Troy and Gabriella stood there for a moment longer, staring at each other in complete and utter shock, when they both found the will to pull away from each other. Troy nodded his head at her and than headed off in the direction of his friends, while Gabriella stood and watched him go.

"So what was it like dancing with the person at the top of your death list?" Taylor walked over to her still stunned friend an amuse smile on her face.

"The rumors about his body are true" was all Gabriella managed to get out and Taylor laughed at her friend's reply.

**A/N: I hope you liked that chapter! It was seriously hard to write, they don't argue at all! Anyway, I'll update soon!**


	6. Opposites Attract

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: I'm so glad that you all liked the last chapter as I said before it was hard to write because, well, they didn't argue. It was kinda weird writing it without them arguing. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter!**

_**Chemicals React**_

**CHAPTER 6**

**OPPOSITES ATTRACT**

Gabriella groaned and rested her aching head against her locker. It was only fourth period and she already had a splitting headache. She closed her eyes and almost immediately they snapped open, against her will, against every fiber in her body, Gabriella's mind had immediately jumped to the first class she'd had and the stupid feeling of Troy's body against her own. She still didn't know what had been wrong with her. The way Troy had said 'Just dance Montez' would have been enough to rile her up more than ever, but it hadn't. All she had said was 'Fine' and kept on dancing and than what she had said to Taylor afterwards. How could she have been so stupid to tell Taylor that? 'The rumors about his body are true', it had been like handing herself the death penalty. Gabriella knew that Taylor wouldn't forget her comment and she knew that there was no way in the history of the world that she was going to let Gabriella forget it either. Gabriella groaned again as the warning bell rang and she remembered that she was about to face Troy for the second time today. Quickly she grabbed her books and headed to her classroom. She ran in out of breath and for the first time late. The class turned to stare at her, Gabriella smiled hesitantly at them before making her way to her seat next to Troy.

"That's a first, Gabriella Montez late for class" he whispered to her when she sat down.

Gabriella shot him a look "At least it's only a first for me" she replied smartly and he shrugged.

"Whatever" he muttered back.

"Mr Bolton, Miss Montez are you two quite finished with your 'secret' conversation that everyone can hear?" Mrs Alexander asked tiredly, as amusing as the two were when they argued, they always seemed to be interrupting her class.

"Sorry" they both mumbled and looked away from each other.

Neither spoke as Mrs Alexander began to give her instructions to the class, half were going to the library and half were staying in the classroom. Gabriella was barely listening to her teacher; her mind could only concentrate on the fact that Troy Bolton was sitting just centimeters away from her. '_Stop it Gabriella! Stop it!_' she told herself furiously, '_What is wrong with you? He's sat that close to you before and you've never thought about it what's so different about now?_' she asked herself with a mixture of curiosity and the fury she'd felt before.

Troy's eyes wandered the class, desperately searching for something that would take his mind off the girl sitting next to him. '_What's up with you? You've sat next to her before and you've never felt like this. Get over it!_' Troy willed himself heatedly. He snuck a glance at her and their eyes met, both instantly turned away.

Gabriella could feel her cheeks burning as she stared at the desk. That had been embarrassing. He'd caught her looking at him; Gabriella didn't even know why she had been looking at him. She glanced at him one more time and wondered how his blue eyes could unnerve her to the extent that she couldn't remember why she hated him.

Troy leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. That had been weird. He'd never been embarrassed to look a girl in the eye before, whether it was if their eyes had met by accident or whether he had looked at her purposely. Troy didn't even know why he had looked at her, but there was something about her eyes that was causing him to question exactly why he hated her.

"Troy, Gabriella, you're meant to be coming to the library with us" Taylor's voice broke through their thoughts and both nodded, Gabriella still examining the ground and Troy very interested in the black spot on the ceiling.

"Now" Taylor said looking at them oddly, she watched as both of their heads snapped to look at her and than they both glance at each other. She watched in interest as their eyes met and they both went red.

"Right, we're coming" Gabriella replied standing up and picking up her bag. Troy nodded and made sure that when he followed her there was at least three people between them.

Gabriella entered the library and relaxed, she'd always loved the stillness and tranquility of it. There was just something about it that made her feel at ease. She smiled at Taylor and seated herself at the desk next to her's. Gabriella quickly pulled out the notes she'd made the night before and began to go through them when Troy sat down. She glanced up and noticed his interest.

"It's a library" she told him and his eyes snapped to hers, Gabriella nearly kicked herself as she remembered the effect those eyes had on her.

"I know what it is; I've just never seen it during that day. That's all" he replied and silently wished he hadn't felt slightly provoked by her tone, that way he wouldn't be sitting there feeling like he couldn't look at anything else.

"Why haven't you seen it during the day?" Gabriella asked, not noticing the way Chad and Taylor were looking at them.

"Dad sometimes stays late after work, so I come in here and work and stuff until he's finished. It's how I get all my homework done without interrupting my basketball" Troy explained and Gabriella nodded.

"That's pretty cool" she said and he shrugged as Taylor and Chad burst out laughing.

Gabriella turned to glare at them and Taylor shook her head at her friend in silent laughter. Unable to believe that they had just managed to hold a normal conversation, that hadn't been sarcastic or provocative.

"Right, Troy, we have to start on the book reports" she said and he looked at her blankly.

"What book reports?" Troy asked confused and Gabriella worked her jaw in a circle, all thoughts of the effect of his gone.

"The one we were given as extra work because you could stop yourself from slamming your hand across my mine!" she hissed at him and instantly his eyes narrowed, all doubts about hating her flew out of Troy's head.

"You mean the ones we were given when you managed to get us kicked out of class the first time?" he snapped at her and Gabriella clenched and unclenched her fist.

"Look, like it or not we have to get them done. Can you do the 'Pride and Prejudice' one?" Gabriella asked him heatedly, trying as hard as she could to calm down.

"What's 'Pride and Prejudice'?" Troy asked calmly and Gabriella felt like slapping him, how could he be so calm when two seconds before he had been as riled up as she felt?

"You know Mr Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet" she made an attempt at reminding him of the work they'd done on the book, Troy looked at her perplexedly, silently congratulating himself for being such a good actor.

"I've got no idea what you're talking about" Troy told her folding his arms and leaning back on his chair.

Gabriella felt like screaming as he looked at her coolly, she knew that Troy knew exactly who they were.

"Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet meet and immediately both hate each other, he's of the wealthy class and she's middle class, so to speak, anyway all this stuff happens and somewhere in the middle Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, because of all this stuff he's meant to have done. She refuses and than she doesn't see him for ages and than she visits his home, Pemberley, and sees him again. She falls in love with him there and he still loves her even though she hadn't wanted to marry him in the first place and than he proposes to her again and I suppose they live happily ever after. Basically it's the whole opposites attract thing, he's one way she's another they shouldn't even be thinking about each other and they end up together, which is stupid because opposites don't attract you normally fall for someone similar to yourself" Gabriella explained the plot to him, getting more and more furious with every word, he was looking at her an amused look in her eyes which said that her comments about 'opposites attract' weren't really needed.

"Hmmm, so they hate each other and than fall in love?" Troy asked evidently amused.

"Don't even start Bolton" Gabriella snapped at him.

"Start what?" Troy asked innocently, his hand twitched slightly as Gabriella began to drum the table with her fingers again.

"You know what I'm talking about. Can we please just get this done? That way we won't have to talk to each other ever again okay?" she asked and once again he slammed his hand over hers. Gabriella stared at him as he brought his face close to hers, their lips were just centimeters apart and Gabriella suddenly found it difficult to breathe as he spoke and she felt his hot breath on her skin.

"Montez, we have another two weeks to get this thing done, so while I would love to think that if we get it done we won't have to speak to each other again, this isn't some stupid small assignment that doesn't count for anything, this assignments worth nearly half our mark, so if we get it done within the space of an hour we're going to have screwed it over pretty badly. So we're going to have to talk to each other outside of this alright?" Troy asked suddenly furious, Gabriella looked at him and knew that he was right, they had to spend a lot of time on this assignment whether she liked it or not.

"Fine" she replied tartly and Troy frowned at her, against her will Gabriella found herself stunned to note that even frowning Troy Bolton was still attractive. Thinking back on it, Troy never really looked bad, he looked good even if he had just come from basketball and hadn't had time to shower.

Troy stared at her and noted that, despite his feelings towards her and the look of fury on her face, Gabriella was still gorgeous. Unlike most girls he'd gone out with, she didn't need make-up to make her look good, she looked good naturally.

The bell rang, snapping Gabriella out of her thoughts she heard the class moving and felt Troy let go of her hand. She watched him as he stood up and picked up his bag. He turned to leave and than stopped and turned to her.

"By the way, opposites _do_ attract" Troy told her with a shrug of his shoulders, he grinned to himself when he saw her jaw drop and walked out of the library. Gabriella staring after him with an astonished look on her face.

**A/N: Another chapter finished, I hope you liked it. This was much easier to write cause they argued! However they did have a normal conversation as well, in case you didn't pick that up! I can't promise I'll update soon cause I don't know when I'll get time to write so yeah that's it!**


	7. Chemicals React

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: And here is the next chapter! Oh yeah, thanks to whoever told me about my grammatical errors, I know about it I just always forget. You're not the only that's picked up on it; you have no idea how mad my English teacher gets at me when I do that. Especially when she has to dock marks off my assessment stories and she doesn't want to! She's told me often enough!**

_**Chemicals React**_

**CHAPTER 7**

**CHEMICALS REACT**

Gabriella sighed in relief as the bell signaling the end of the day sounded. She couldn't wait to get out of there, he was the reason. First she'd danced with him and than she'd had a civil conversation with him and that argument. 'By the way, opposites _do_ attract', what had he meant by that? Was he referring to them? If he was, _why_ was referring to them? There was nothing between them. She had been so sure that there was nothing between them, she had been absolutely positive that she hated him with a passion, she had been sure that nothing could change her mind. Until………he had said that. Now she was shaken, because maybe, just maybe, he was right, maybe opposites did attract. Maybe she didn't hate him quite as much as she thought she did, maybe there was something between them, and maybe he was going to change her mind even if she didn't want to admit it.

"Hey," Taylor walked up to Gabriella and grinned at the look on her face.

"What?" she snapped at her friend whose grin grew even wider.

"You know, I think that Troy's having the strangest effect on you. You can't seem to stop thinking about him," Taylor teased Gabriella and her friend spun to face her, an annoyed look on her face.

"Troy is have no effect on me whatsoever, I don't know what you're talking about," Gabriella said her face paling slightly at Taylor's words.

"Yes he is, you're now thinking that you don't hate him as much as you thought you did, you now think that there might be something between you and you know that he's going to change your mind," Taylor said reading her mind and laughing at her.

"No I'm not," Gabriella replied stubbornly shaking her head, her brown curls flying.

"Yes you are and you know that the word 'might' in your thoughts shouldn't be there. Because trust me Gabs, when it comes to you and Troy there is something there," Taylor told her still smiling.

"What do you mean by that?" Gabriella asked as they walked out the door.

"I have never seen you so unhinged by a guy and I've seen you with guys before," Taylor explained and Gabriella stared at her in horror.

"Whoa, I am _never_ unhinged around Troy. Wait, what do you mean unhinged?" Gabriella said stopping and looking at Taylor, the horror in her chest mounting rapidly as she recognized the look on her friends face.

"Please, Gabriella, you get so riled up by that guy its funny to watch. That's what I mean by unhinged, all he has to do is say something and you're instantly at his throat. You don't even bother to hear him out and then he reacts and you're at each others throats." Taylor elaborated.

"Oh right, you just avoided the answer to my other question," Gabriella pointed out and Taylor shrugged.

"Hmmm, I did, didn't I? You haven't noticed? Jeez Gabriella, are you blind or deaf or seriously out of tune with your feelings?" Taylor asked waving her arms around as Gabriella stared at her.

"No," she replied confused.

"Gabriella, you and Troy have chemistry, big time chemistry. Watching you and Troy is like watching chemicals react. There's no other way to put it. You should seriously see the physical attraction when you two are together. It starts as soon as you guys sit down together, to when you leave each other and lets not forget the arguments that always seem to progress from you two sitting as far away from each other as possible to Troy holding your hand and you two coming so close to kissing its beginning to get annoying," Taylor cried out and Gabriella raised her eyebrows.

"We do not end up almost kissing!" she told Taylor and Taylor snorted.

"Gabriella, you're faces have come so close like a thousands times and if you'd turned your head slightly at some of the times you would have ended up kissing him," Taylor informed her.

Gabriella continued to stare at her, her mind running over everything that Taylor had told her. Chemistry, unhinged, chemicals react. What did that mean?

"Chemicals react?" she asked in a daze.

"Yeah, not my words, Chad's, he was watching you guys yesterday and he said that watching you guys was like watching chemicals react," Taylor nodded her head at her words as they continued walking.

"Chemicals react," Gabriella repeated and Taylor nodded, obviously enjoying remembering what Chad had said and other things by the look on her face.

"Yes, throw two chemicals together and watch them react. That's what's happening with you and Troy, your chemicals are reacting and there reacting in a big way," Taylor said as Gabriella's phone went off.

She pulled it out and looked at the number, not recognizing it. She looked at Taylor who mouthed 'Who is it?' at her and shrugged. Taylor motioned for her to answer it, knowing who it was and wanting to see her reaction when she answered it. Gabriella hit answer and raised it to her ear.

"Hello?" she said curiously.

"Hey, Gabriella?" Troy's voice floated through the phone and Gabriella's eyes widened, her mouth formed a perfect 'O' and she nearly dropped the phone.

"Uh, um, uh, I mean, yes Troy?" Gabriella replied as Taylor collapsed in hysterics.

"Look, I know this is weird and all," '_Tell me about it_' Gabriella thought and than tried to find the hate that she'd felt a week before "But, we're going to have to meet after school or on the weekend or something because our English lessons that we've been given to work on, well today was our last one and we've got to get it done," Troy said and Gabriella turned away from Taylor who wouldn't stop laughing.

"Right, um……" she trailed off and they were both silent.

"Okay, look, do you want to meet me at my house on Saturday morning?" Gabriella asked, furious at herself for not being able to find the hate that had been there a week ago.

"Sure, uh, just the morning though. I've got a game during in the afternoon," he replied and Gabriella swallowed hard.

"Yes, that's alright," she agreed nodding her head.

"Cool, okay, I'll see you later," he said and hung up.

Gabriella hung up slowly, wondering where the hate had gone. She turned back to Taylor who was watching her with a mischievous grin on her face.

"What?" she asked and Taylor just shook her head.

"That's the second civil conversation you two have had today and you were blushing the entire time," she said giggling and Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"So?" she questioned and Taylor just shrugged.

"You don't hate him, you like him" she replied and walked off leaving Gabriella gaping after her.

Gabriella tried to shake it off, but it didn't work. Now that she thought about it, maybe Taylor was right, maybe she didn't hate him. '_Chemicals react_' she thought and shrugged, maybe it made sense, maybe they were chemicals reacting.

**A/N: Not exactly fluff, but Gabriella's contemplating some things. Taylor put some things in perspective for her which is cool. Anyway, that's the chapter. Not much of a wait, my sport was cancelled today which gave me time to write this! I hope you liked this!**


	8. What's Happening?

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: I'm glad you all liked the last chapter and I couldn't wait till I wrote this chapter.**

_**Chemicals React**_

**CHAPTER 8**

**WHAT'S HAPPENING?**

Gabriella's eyes snapped open when she heard her alarm go off. She was disorientated for a moment and wondered exactly why her alarm was going off on a Saturday morning. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, her mind drifting to the dream that she'd just been pulled out of. She couldn't remember it clearly, but it had been a nice one. She remembered dreaming the feeling of a strong arm around her waist and lips pressing up against her forehead, cheeks, hair or lips every few seconds of the dream. She just couldn't remember who the person had been, or why she had dreamt it. Gabriella wondered what she had been thinking about when she had gone to bed the night before, she'd read somewhere that you dreamt about what you'd been thinking about as you drifted to sleep. Suddenly the door burst open and overly excited Taylor burst in, causing Gabriella to fall in the process of getting out of bed.

"Ow, Taylor what the heck is wrong with you? And why are you here at," Gabriella squinted at her clock "Eight-thirty in the morning?" she finished getting up and scratching her head.

"Because, today you and Troy are going to be in a room together alone, completely unsupervised and anything can happen," Taylor replied and Gabriella froze.

How could she have forgotten that? How could she have forgotten _he_ was coming? And why did Taylor have to go and say something like that? Completely unsupervised and alone, what did she think was going to happen?

"So? What do you thinks going to happen?" she replied and walked past her friend and headed downstairs.

Gabriella paused in the living room and turned on the stereo system that her father had set up, there were speakers in nearly every room of the house and Gabriella always turned it on when she was home alone. She hit play and drums filled the air. Gabriella walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of orange juice, Taylor picked herself up onto the kitchen table and grinned.

"Oh you know, anything, everything; the tension could get so high you and Troy could do something really stupid. Like you could end up murdering him or you could end up making out with him," Taylor replied examining her nails and Gabriella nearly spat out the mouthful of orange juice that was in her mouth.

"Is that what happened with you and Chad?" Gabriella asked swallowing her mouthful, avoiding going down that particular path further and staring at her friend, who had gone a delicate shade of pink.

"Um, maybe," Taylor said avoiding looking at Gabriella.

"You've made out with Chad? When? And how long has this been going on and why wasn't I informed?" Gabriella demanded and Taylor shrugged.

"Two days after we were assigned the project, we kept it a secret from you and Troy because we knew that you two wouldn't like it," Taylor admitted and Gabriella didn't reply, her mind running over any signs that she'd missed and than she shrugged.

"Hey, if that's who your going out with than that's who your going out with," she replied and Taylor stared at her dumbfounded, she'd expected at least a blow up from Gabriella.

"That's it? You're not going to yell at me or anything?" she asked incredulous.

Gabriella shrugged and than walked back into the living room and turned the volume up and that's when Taylor realized Gabriella couldn't have cared less about who she was dating, she was to busy concentrating on getting through the morning with Troy. Which Taylor found amusing, Gabriella wasn't one to prepare for things she normally took it as it came.

"I've got to get changed," she muttered and than ran up to her bedroom and slammed the door shut not really caring that Taylor was still in her kitchen.

Troy walked up to Gabriella's front door, feeling slightly nervous. He wondered where Chad had gotten to. He was meant to be here with him, apparently he was picking Taylor up from Gabriella's and they were heading into town. Troy fought down the nervous feeling and knocked on the door. The door swung open for a moment and he stared at Gabriella, just managing to keep his mouth dropping open.

"_Well I wanted you, I wanted no one else, I thought it through, I got you to myself_……" Troy noted the band playing and would have nodded in approval, but he was to busy staring at Gabriella who didn't seem to know what to do.

She was standing there in slightly loose jeans, and a black bonds singlet top. Her hair was hanging in loose ringlets around her shoulders and she was wearing no make-up that he could tell. Troy was speechless; it was a good thing she didn't seem to be paying attention to him because he didn't know what to say to her. If he'd had to have said something Troy probably would have told her that she looked……gorgeous. '_Don't think that you idiot!_' his mind screamed at him, but there was one tiny part of it that told him he was thinking straight and that she did look gorgeous.

Gabriella stared at Troy, lost for words. Because standing in her front of her was the guy from her dream, looking exactly the same as her imagination had depicted him. Gabriella desperately tried to think of something to say and failed miserably; all she could do was stand there and look at him wondering exactly how he had managed to stop her from hating him and why he never seemed to look bad.

"Hey!" Chad's voice snapped them both out of their trance and immediately both Gabriella and Troy look away from each other, very embarrassed about their thoughts.

"Hey, man, where have you been?" Troy asked turning to his friend, who eyed him suspiciously.

"Oh, my mom rang, hey Gabriella," Chad replied and Gabriella nodded at him.

"Chad, I'll just get Taylor," Gabriella said and he nodded.

"Sure," Chad replied and Gabriella glanced at Troy once more, before leaving him on the porch and going to find Taylor.

Gabriella's mind was racing as she went in search of Taylor. Troy was the guy she'd been dreaming about? Why had she been thinking about him before she had gone to sleep? Why had she dreamt about kissing him? Gabriella bit her lip as she realized that she actually had enjoyed the dream. Gabriella opened the door to her room and uttered a little scream as she came face to face with Taylor.

"Oh my god, Taylor, you scared the living daylights out of me," she gasped as her friend stared at her.

"Sorry," Taylor studied her friends rather red face and than grinned "He's here isn't he?" she continued and Gabriella went even redder.

"Yes, and I don't care about it, Chad's here too" Gabriella replied and Taylor laughed at her.

"Gabriella, you're not very good at lying to me," Taylor informed her and Gabriella stared at her.

"What?" she asked her mind still on the dream and the boy waiting downstairs.

"You _do _care that Troy is here, I can tell you do" Taylor told her, and Gabriella shook her head trying to clear her thoughts.

"No I don't, now are you coming downstairs or not? Cause I don't think your prince charming's going to be in one place for to long at the moment," Gabriella said finally managing to push her thoughts to one side.

"Oh right, is he moving from one foot to another yet?" Taylor asked and Gabriella raised her eyebrows at her.

"No, but when he starts running around the yard and singing, I'll let you know," Gabriella replied sarcastically and Taylor rolled her eyes.

"She's back," Taylor muttered and walked out of the room before Gabriella could respond.

Troy was standing on the porch, watching as Chad moved from one foot to another. His mind kept on returning to Gabriella, who had disappeared a few minutes ago. He didn't get how she managed to look gorgeous; she looked so ordinary, so real. Troy guessed that's why he thought she looked good, she looked real. He'd never actually seen a girl without make-up on, he'd never met a girl who had never made an effort when she knew that she would be seeing him the day.

"Chad, stop moving, you'll wear yourself out if you keep it up!" Troy finally snapped at his best friend as Taylor and Gabriella appeared.

"I won't wear myself out; you know I always do this before a game, it's like my habit," Chad replied and Troy rolled his eyes.

"Okay," he said.

"Taylor, are you ready to go?" Chad asked and Taylor nodded.

"Yeah, have fun you two," Taylor replied nodding, Gabriella didn't reply she just rolled her eyes.

"Thanks, bye mom, bye dad," Gabriella replied sarcastically and Taylor shot her a look as she and Chad left.

Troy and Gabriella stood there in silence for a moment, both listening to the song coming from the house.

"_Uncle Sam taught him to shoot maybe a little to well, finger on the trigger, loaded bullet……_" Troy broke the silence.

"We should get started, I've got to be back at my place by two" he said and Gabriella nodded mutely.

"Sure, let's get this over with," she added almost under her breath, Troy nodded and followed her into the house, dreading slightly what was to come.

"Why would Wickham marry Lydia, if it meant accepting Darcy's help?" Troy's voice broke through Gabriella's concentration and she looked up and shot him a look.

"Why wouldn't he? He's getting money for marrying her and that's all he wanted," she replied.

"Would you marry me for money?" Troy asked again and Gabriella stared at him, confused.

"No, that's stupid," Gabriella said and wondered exactly where he was going with this.

"Exactly," he nodded at her and than continued reading, Gabriella stared at him.

That had to be one of the most random things he had asked her today. Not that Troy had actually spoken to her since they'd walked through her front door after Chad and Taylor had left. He seemed to be just work, well he wasn't actually working. He was currently reading her copy of 'Pride and Prejudice' and despite all her misgivings about letting him do the report; he actually seemed to understand what he was reading. Gabriella glanced at him once more and found her eyes following the curve of his cheek down to his mouth. His lips looked so……kissable and soft. Gabriella bit her lip and looked back down at her work, trying to shake those thoughts from her mind. She glanced up once more and than back down again and concentrated on her work.

Troy glanced over at Gabriella as he heard her pen tapping the paper, he'd decided against talking to her when he walked through the door and so far it had worked perfectly. He read; she worked. No conversation whatsoever. He knew that Gabriella didn't get why he had asked her the question about Wickham and Lydia he had just needed to clear something up and she seemed to know everything about the book, so asking her was the obvious choice. Troy glanced at the book and than back up at Gabriella, his eyes traced her brown curls, which tumbled down her back. They looked so soft, for a brief moment Troy wondered what it would be like to be able to run his hand through them. He glanced back down at the book, and than up once more. Shaking his head, Troy looked back down at the page and began to read again.

After a few moments Gabriella felt her stomach rumble and she looked up at the clock. Her eyes widened and she did a double take.

"Hey Troy, do you want some lunch?" she asked throwing her pen down and stretching, he looked up in surprise and his eyes slid to the clock.

Gabriella felt herself redden slightly as he turned his blue eyes towards her, she'd never actually noticed how blue they were and there was a slight twinkle in them. Gabriella found herself getting caught up in them.

"Sure," he replied easily and he broke the hypnotizing gaze he had on her.

"Right, sure, um, what do you want?" Gabriella asked feeling flustered.

"Dunno, what've you got?" Troy asked.

"Good question," she said and got up.

Troy waited for a moment before slowly following her into the kitchen. He leant against the door frame and watched as Gabriella conducted a search through the refrigerator.

"Hey Gabriella?" he began hesitantly.

"Mmmm?" she called back distractedly.

"If you don't mind me asking but where are you parents?" he continued, she stopped rummaging around in the fridge and turned to look at him.

"Mom's away on a business trip, and Dad's in Australia. I think he is anyway," Gabriella replied carelessly and Troy raised his eyebrows.

"And they have no problem whatsoever with the fact that you and I are here all alone?" he continued coming into the kitchen, Gabriella shrugged.

"I spoke to Mom last night, she's got no problem with it, Dad's a different story, he'd probably fly all the way home from Australia to murder you and ground me," she replied with a wry grin.

"Why would he come all the way home just to ground you?" he asked as she hoisted herself up onto the bench. Gabriella frowned as she thought about it; she wondered how she should put it.

"Well, according to my father, I'm still the five year old who thought boys were disgusting and that if they came near me I'd get an infectious disease," Gabriella replied and Troy raised his eyebrows.

"And?" Troy questioned with a grin.

"And, unfortunately for him, I'm not, so knowing my father he would jump to conclusions and assume you were my boyfriend," Gabriella felt her stomach turn at the mention of him being her boyfriend, even if it was hypothetical "And that we were getting up to no good while both he and Mom were out of the house," she finished and Troy cracked up.

"That-" he began.

"Is exactly how my father's mind works," Gabriella cut him off before he could say anymore.

"Your father's weird," Troy stated when he stopped laughing.

"No he's not, he's just overprotective," she argued and Troy shook his head.

"No, he's weird, how many fathers would immediately assume that the guy at your house is your boyfriend?" Troy asked, feeling his stomach do a back flip as he used the words 'your boyfriend', he shook his head slightly, it was hypothetical after all.

"How many fathers wouldn't? Especially if they knew he was the most gorgeous guy at East High!" Gabriella argued playfully and than went bright red as she realized what she had said.

Troy stared at her, stunned. He had never expected her to say something like that, especially seeing as a week ago she hated his guts.

"Yeah and Chad's the most mature one," Troy snorted after a moments awkward silence.

"Oh come on, I'm sure Chad can be mature sometimes," Gabriella said even though she sounded less than sure of herself.

"Uh-huh, the only time I've seen Chad act serious is when we're playing or training and I've known him since kindergarten," Troy said nodding his head at his words, Gabriella laughed and threw a tea towel at him, he dodged it and threw it back, it landed on the floor.

"I bet you he's been serious without you noticing," she said, enjoying this argument more and more. It had a playful undertone and neither of them was really trying to get the other annoyed at them.

"Yeah, in his sleep maybe," he grinned and Gabriella shook her head, still smiling.

"Whatever," she said and jumped down from the kitchen bench.

Gabriella felt herself slip on something and grimaced, '_I shouldn't have thrown that tea towel_' she thought grimly as she began to fall backwards. Gabriella closed her eyes and wished that she hadn't jumped. Before she'd even touched the bench, Gabriella felt strong arms wrap around her and pull her up straight. Hardly daring to believe it, she opened her eyes and looked up into Troy's sparkling blue ones.

"Uh," she stuttered, acutely aware of how close they were.

Troy watched as she struggled for words, he was well aware of her body pressed up against his own and the effect it seemed to be having on her. He could feel her breath on his neck and it sent shivers up and down his spine.

"You know, you're not very coordinated," he said when she hadn't said anything.

Gabriella growled at him as he released her from his grip, even though she wasn't sure that she wanted him to remove his arms.

"Sorry for not being able to have perfect balance," she snapped at him and Troy grinned.

"Hey, I wouldn't expect you too," he informed her as a piece of flyaway hair fell into her gleaming brown eyes.

Before Gabriella could push it away, she felt Troy's hand gently push it behind her ear for her and she froze as he made no move to remove his hand. Gabriella found herself getting caught up in his eyes again and wondered how she could have gone from hating him to loving the feel of his hand against her skin. What was happening to her?

Troy looked down at the girl in front of him, wondering exactly what to do. Truthfully, Troy had no idea what he was doing or why he was doing it. He couldn't figure out how he had gone from hating her with a passion and never wanting to touch her, to pushing her hair behind her ear and feeling very unsure about himself. What was happening to him?

"I've got to get going," Troy said and suddenly both of them seemed to snap back to reality. They jumped away from each other as quickly as they could. Gabriella looked at the bench and folded her arms. Troy gazed at the floor and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Okay, sure," she nodded and an awkward silence filled the air.

"Right, I'll see you," Troy said and Gabriella nodded again.

"Mmm-hmm, sure, see you," Gabriella desperately wanted him to leave almost as much as she wanted him to stay.

Troy left and Gabriella shoulders sagged in relief, what was happening to her?

Troy stood on her porch and turned back to the door, he shook his head and than jumped down the steps one thought on repeat. What was happening to him?

**A/N: I hope that was okay, I think it's the longest chapter so far oh and if you wanted to know the CD that she was listening to was 'All The Right Reasons' By Nickelback, they're one of my favorite bands and I love that CD. **


	9. Maybe

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: I really don't have much to say except that I am so sore and really don't want to play basketball tomorrow, alas, I have to and it seriously sucks. Anyway, enough of what my life's like at the moment, here is the next chapter enjoy!**

_**Chemicals React**_

**CHAPTER 9 **

**MAYBE**

Gabriella walked through the doors of East High and felt a slight sense of foreboding. What was she going to say to Troy? To say what had happened on Saturday had been awkward would have been an understatement. She still had no idea what was happening to her, it had never happened before and than he had come along and now Gabriella was just plain confused. A week or two weeks ago, she hated him; she couldn't stand to be around him and now. Now Gabriella found herself enjoying his company, she _liked _the way he wasn't afraid to argue with her, she liked the way he could be as sarcastic with her as she was with him, she liked the way he challenged her. Maybe she just plain liked him. Almost as quickly as the thought popped up, Gabriella pushed it away. It was a stupid thought; he was her partner in an assignment, nothing more.

"Hey," Gabriella jumped when she heard Troy's voice; she spun to look at him and stared at him before managing to compose herself.

"Hey," she replied quietly and he looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"So, um, what are we going to do about this assignment?" he asked as she continued to walk down the hallway.

"Plead irreconcilable differences and ask for an extension?" Gabriella replied with a grin and he burst out laughing.

"Definitely, Chad and Taylor can be our witnesses," Troy agreed. Gabriella glanced at him and wondered if he'd thought about what had happened on the weekend at all.

"Speaking of Chad and Taylor, did you know that they got together two days after they were made partners?" she asked and stopped in front of her locker.

"Are you serious?" Gabriella laughed as Troy's jaw hit the ground.

"Yes, I'm serious, she told me on Saturday," she replied.

"Interesting, I never thought Taylor would be Chad's type," Troy mused and Gabriella looked over at him a frown appearing on her face.

"Let me guess, Chad's type is a beach blonde whose life ambition is to be a playboy bunny or whatever you call those things, come to think of it that's probably your type too." Gabriella said sounding slightly sarcastic as she pulled her locker door open, Troy frowned at her and watched as several books slid out of her locker and hit the ground.

"You know, you don't have to take that tone with me," he snapped at her and bent to help her pick up the books.

"I didn't use a tone," Gabriella argued with him.

"Sure you didn't and books didn't just slide out of your locker." Troy shot back and Gabriella glared at him, Troy glared back and they both reached for the same book. Gabriella's eyes widened as she felt their hands meet and their fingers entwine.

Troy stared at the girl in front of him, his glare softening as he watched her dark eyes soften as well. He liked the feeling of her hand in his, they were so soft, he hadn't noticed how soft they were until now. Troy found himself getting caught up in her wonderfully dark eyes.

Gabriella could feel her body grow warm as got lost in Troy's eyes. They were so blue and clear and she felt like he was seeing right through her. Her grip on his hand tightened slightly. His hands were so different from what she'd imagined them to be, Gabriella had thought that his hands would be rough and tough from all the basketball. But they weren't, they were smooth and not exactly soft but they weren't tough either.

"Troy!" A loud voice cried out and it snapped them out of the trance that they were in.

Gabriella yanked her hand from Troy's and grabbed the book off of him, they stood up and Gabriella threw the books into her locker. Troy shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and rocked backwards on his heels.

"Uh, we have to finish the assignment," Gabriella said sounding flustered, she avoided looking at him and allowed her hair to fall in front of her face.

"Yeah, we do," Troy agreed nodding even though he knew that she couldn't see him.

"So I guess I'll meet you in the library at lunch, we can finish the major piece on Jane Austen and start the book reports." She said and he nodded again.

"Okay, whatever," with that he walked away leaving Gabriella with a very strange feeling in her stomach.

"What do you mean you ended up holding his hand?" Taylor practically screamed as they walked into the library.

"It was an accident, we reached for the same book, that was it," Gabriella replied and Taylor grinned.

"Sure and your fingers just happened to lace together in front of the whole school might I add," Taylor laughed quietly as Gabriella placed her books down on a spare table and turned to her friend.

"The entire school wasn't watching, besides it meant nothing!" Gabriella hissed at her friend and Taylor snorted.

"Sure it means nothing, just like that fact that you can't seem to argue with him anymore and every time we talk about him a stupid smile appears on your face," Taylor said knowingly and Gabriella glared at her.

"Whatever you say," Gabriella rolled her eyes and turned when she heard the library door open.

Taylor watched Gabriella in amusement as Troy walked in and made his way towards them. Gabriella had gone an interesting mix of red and white and to Taylor it seemed like she didn't know where to look. Troy wasn't much better, although to Taylor it seemed like he had settled more on white than anything else.

"Hey," he said quietly and Gabriella nodded.

"I'm going to go, so I'll see you later," Taylor said sounding highly amused.

"Bye, I'll call you tonight," Gabriella nodded and Troy found interest in the table.

"Let's get started," Troy said a moment after Taylor had left; Gabriella nodded mutely and sat down.

"Gabriella?" Troy asked after ten minutes if silent working.

"Mmmm?" Gabriella replied and looked up, concentrating on the shelves of books behind him.

"This is going to sound really weird coming from me, but Jane Austen was born on the sixteenth of December 1775, not the second of September 2004," Troy said with a slight chuckle.

"What? I didn't write that did I? I swear I didn't write that, give me the paper Troy," Gabriella said when she saw the grin on his face.

"No, by the way, I'm pretty sure the book she wrote was 'Pride and Prejudice' not 'Bride and Prejudice'," Troy continued and Gabriella felt a smile spread across her face as she made an attempt at snatching it from his hand. Troy pulled it away and laughed a little.

"I didn't write that!" she exclaimed making another desperate attempt at ripping it from his hand.

"Yeah, sure you didn't, and I'm pretty sure that her sisters name was Cassandra not, what does that say? Jeez Gabriella when did you write this? Two o'clock in the morning? I can't read the name you've written," he asked still grinning as she had another go and getting the paper off him.

"I don't remember, why would I remember when I wrote that?" she snapped at him and Troy shrugged.

"Oh you know, I guess I suspected that you would remember when you wrote something with that many mistakes," he said and Gabriella glared at him.

"I didn't write that! I never make a mistake!" she exclaimed and he laughed, Gabriella was basically lying on the table trying to grab the paper in Troy's hand.

"I know you didn't write it, there's nothing written on this piece of paper," Troy laughed and Gabriella glared at him, causing him to laugh harder.

"You should have seen the look on your face when I said that," he told her when she was firmly back in her seat.

"I'm sure it was hilarious," she muttered darkly.

"Oh it was, shoot, Gabriella I've got to go, Dad wants to run over some things with me before training tomorrow," he said and Gabriella nodded.

"Okay, sure, we'll work on it later," she said and he nodded.

"Alright, I'll see you later," Troy agreed and Gabriella began to gather her books as he left.

Slowly she made her way to her locker and opened it; one by one she placed her books in the locker. Gabriella looked down and her eyes widened as she looked at the book that wasn't hers.

"Chad!" Gabriella called out when she saw his bushy hair.

"Yeah?" he spun around hope on his face.

"No, Taylor isn't with me, sorry," Gabriella said sarcastically and he shrugged.

"Wasn't expecting her to be, what's up?" he asked when she'd stopped.

"Can you give this to Troy?" Gabriella asked holding up his English book.

Chad looked at the girl in front of him and knew that there was no way that he was giving the book to Troy, when Gabriella could give it to him.

"Sorry, but I'm hanging out with Taylor this afternoon, you're going to have to give it to him," he replied keeping a straight face.

"Can't you give it to him on your way to Taylor's?" Gabriella asked.

"Why would I give it to him when Taylor lives in the opposite direction of his place?" Chad replied genuinely confused.

"Never mind," Gabriella sighed exasperated. They stood in silence for a moment before Gabriella spoke.

"Can you at least tell me where he lives?" she asked and Chad nodded.

"Sure, um, he lives, like, two streets away from you, in the house with the porch and the white swing at the front," Gabriella raised her eyebrows at Chad's instructions.

"Okay, thank you for those wonderful directions Chad, they are really great," she said sarcastically and he shrugged as Gabriella walked off.

"You gotta keep working left Troy, you'll kill 'em when you play," Troy barely registered what his father was saying. His mind was to busy thinking about Gabriella.

He still didn't quite understand how he had gone from hating her to not hating her in such a short space of time. He still wasn't quite sure he knew what was happening to him; two weeks ago he could barely stand to be in the same room as her, he couldn't hold a normal conversation with and he'd wanted to murder her while she slept and now, well now he was finding he liked how they argued, he liked how she constantly challenged him, he liked the way she didn't treat him differently, he liked the way she wasn't afraid to tell him off, maybe he just liked her. Troy shook his head slightly as the thought passed, that was stupid, she was his project partner nothing more. Troy took a shot and pushed the whole subject from his mind.

Gabriella stared at Troy's front door; she hoped this was his place. Chad's directions hadn't actually been that accurate, she'd spent ten minutes on the phone with Taylor, who had been getting the directions from Chad to get here and if Chad was wrong again, Gabriella was going to kill him. Sighing she lifted her hand and knocked on the door. Gabriella waited nervously and straightened the skirt she'd changed into; she turned away from the door and bit her lip. She heard the door opened and spun around to face a middle-aged woman looking at her curiously.

"Mrs Bolton?" Gabriella asked hesitantly.

"Yes, how may I help you?" the woman replied and Gabriella let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.

"Thank god, uh, is Troy home?" Gabriella asked again and the woman looked at her.

"Why do you need to see him?" she asked suspiciously.

"Oh, I have his English book, he kind of needs it we have homework and it has his book report on 'Pride and Prejudice' in it," Gabriella replied holding the book up, she watched as Mrs Bolton's face softened into a warm smile and wondered if she'd passed some kind of test.

"Lovely, I'll just get him," she said and Gabriella nodded as she disappeared into the house.

Turning away from the door again Gabriella ran a hand through her hair and for the first time ever wondered if she looked alright. She bit her lip and straightened her skirt again. She heard someone approach the door and she spun around again, to face a sweaty and shirtless Troy. Gabriella gulped and stared at him, completely lost for words, she could feel herself begin to blush as she stared at him. Yes she'd _felt_ his body before, when they'd been dancing, but she hadn't actually seen it. Now she was staring at it.

"Hey Gabriella," Troy waved a hand in front of her face, fully aware of what she was staring at. Her eyes snapped to meet his.

"Hi," she said breathlessly and he grinned at her in amusement.

"What are you doing here?" he asked and she held up his English book.

"I think you'll be needing this tonight," Gabriella replied and he grinned when he saw it.

"Probably," he agreed as Gabriella's eyes strayed down to his body again.

"I should get home, I just thought you'd need that," she said and Troy nodded.

"Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow," he said as his mother appeared in the doorway.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" she asked Gabriella and Gabriella stared at her, unsure whether or not she was serious.

Troy and Gabriella stared at her. They exchanged a glance and began talking at exactly the same time.

"It's okay, thank you for inviting me though," Gabriella said.

"No, she's got homework to do," Troy said and they exchanged another glance. Gabriella narrowed her eyes at him when she registered what he had said.

"You know my life doesn't actually revolve around homework," she snapped at him. Troy shrugged.

"Sure it doesn't and mine doesn't revolve around Basketball," he replied sounding slightly sarcastic, Gabriella thought she heard a hint of unhappiness and raised her eyebrows at him.

"What's this? Do I hear Troy Bolton not really happy with his basketball orientated life?" Gabriella asked mockingly.

"No you hear Troy Bolton beginning to get quietly annoyed with Gabriella Montez," he shot back and Gabriella folded her arms.

"Quietly annoyed? You can't get quietly annoyed with me, you either get mad at me or you don't, end of story," Gabriella snapped and her eyes strayed once more to his body, she couldn't help it.

"No I've learnt to control my temper, unlike someone I can think of." Troy smirked at her.

Joanne Bolton watched the two teenagers argue with amusement. She'd never heard a girl speak to her son like that, and she had certainly never heard her son waste his breath on a girl like this. Normally, the cheerleaders or other girls that stopped by could barely get two words out of him unlike this girl who seemed to know exactly how to rile him up and get him to talk. She could see that this petite, dark-haired girl was more than a match for her son, who seemed to be enjoying the chance to rile her up.

"You are so annoying!" Gabriella exclaimed frustrated with the fact that she couldn't annoy him.

"You are so annoying," Troy mimicked Gabriella with satisfaction, he was enjoying this, not only was he annoying her but he liked the way her dark eyes lit up every time he spoke.

"You're so immature," Gabriella shook her head and met his eyes, they looked at her in amusement and she poked her tongue out at him.

"Look whose immature now," Troy laughed and Gabriella glared at him, annoyed at how the argument had turned playful.

"Thank you for the kind dinner invitation Mrs Bolton, but I think I'll leave your immature son behind and go home," Gabriella said turning to Joanne and smiling at her.

"Nah, don't go you should stay." Troy spoke up before his mother had a chance to reply.

"What? Why?" Gabriella spun to face him again and Troy shrugged.

"Why not? I know enough about your house to know there's no food there," he replied and than slipped past his mother and into the house before Gabriella could protest. Joanne watched the girl stare after her son and struggled with her laughter, she could tell that Troy had just gotten better of this girl and she was going to want to get back at him.

"I guess I'm staying for dinner than, I'm Gabriella by the way," Gabriella finally spoke up when she could see no way out.

"Well that's good news, I'm Joanne and don't worry we'll get out the baby photos and you can mock him all you want," she said and Gabriella grinned, maybe tonight was going to be fun.

**A/N: Dun dun dun, I bet you all hate me right now, don't worry I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can, it'll be all about the dinner that, however, was fun to write. Anyway, I was wondering what would you guys think if I wrote an older Troyella story? I've been toying with the idea for ages and I want some opinions as to whether or not I should do it, so let me know!**


	10. Almost Kissed

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: Here is the next chapter, I hope you all like it!!!!**

_**Chemicals React**_

**CHAPTER 10**

**ALMOST KISSED**

Gabriella gazed around the Bolton's kitchen, wondering just what she had gotten herself into. She knew why she had accepted, Troy had gotten the better of her and she wanted to get even. It was one of the things she couldn't stand about him; he always managed to get the better of her. Gabriella frowned, that thought was much too familiar. That thought was way too familiar actually. She still didn't quite understand how she had gone from hating him to liking him in all of two weeks. It was all a confusing mess that she didn't really want to think about at the moment. Gabriella shook her head as a mass of white and black fur launched itself at her.

"Whoa!" she cried as it landed in her lap and began to lick her ecstatically. For a moment her vision was blurred and than she realized that the black and white ball of fur on her lap was in fact a Border collie puppy.

"Oh Gabriella, I'm so sorry I thought he was asleep," Joanne turned around and saw the dog on Gabriella lap.

"Its okay, really, I'm just not used to dog jumping on me," she replied and than giggled as the puppy made an attempt at licking her face.

"Yes, most people aren't used to things like that," she agreed and Gabriella looked up and smiled at her.

"Is he Troy's?" she asked and Joanne nodded.

"Yes, I have no idea why that boy wanted a dog because he's so caught up with his basketball and I don't have any time to look after him, I've got Mia to worry about," Joanne replied distractedly.

"Who's Mia?" Gabriella asked curiously removing the puppy from her lap and setting him on the floor.

"Troy's younger sister, didn't you know that?" Joanne replied and Gabriella shook her head.

"He never mentioned it to me," Gabriella said and than grinned, '_We were probably to busy arguing_' she thought with a slight shake o her head.

"Well, she's about ten months old and when we brought her home she was the only thing he talked about. He adores her, he's the best big brother and the only one that can put her to sleep," Joanne informed Gabriella.

"That's cute," she said and Joanne nodded.

"Are you two talking about me?" Troy's voice caused Gabriella to jump and she turned in her chair to look at him. She silently thanked god that he had a shirt on this time and than blushed a bit as she felt his eyes on her.

"Yes, but your not going to find out what about," she replied and he grinned, Gabriella just gave him a look.

"I bet you if I get you really angry, you'll tell me," Troy said taking the seat opposite her.

"I bet you won't," Gabriella replied.

"Is that a challenge Montez?" he grinned and Gabriella tilted her head to one side and an evil smirk appeared on her face.

"I've been challenging you from day one Bolton, why'd you just pick up on it now?" she replied, Troy shrugged.

"Maybe because half the time you never gave me a second to think," he replied leaning casually back in his chair.

"If I didn't give you a second to think how'd you win all the arguments?" she asked.

"Ahh, so you admit I won all the arguments, do you know how many we've had so far?" Troy asked

"Too many to count," Gabriella said watching him closely.

"I was going to say different but you're right," he agreed.

"That's pathetic Troy!" Gabriella exclaimed.

"What?" he asked confused.

"You counting how many arguments we've had! Who does that?" she said and Troy shrugged.

"I do, what's wrong with it? You're only annoyed cause you know I won most of the arguments," he replied lazily.

"I'm not annoyed, just……exasperated," Gabriella said after a moments thought and Troy grinned at her.

"Which is another way of saying your annoyed." He stated and Gabriella stuck her tongue out at him again causing him to laugh.

"You really need to work on your comebacks," Troy told her.

"Hey! I've got really good comebacks!" Gabriella cried out after she realized what he had said.

"Sure you do, most of them consist of walking away or poking your tongue out at me." Troy laughed and Gabriella shrugged and than began tapping the counter, Troy looked at Gabriella and the grin on her face told him she knew exactly what she was doing. He grinned at her and she narrowed her eyes at him, wondering exactly what he was going to do.

Gabriella continued tapping the table and Troy's grin grew wider and she suddenly became very nervous as to what he was going to do. She knew that tapping the table annoyed him, but she could tell it wasn't going to catch him out like it had the previous times because neither of them was really annoyed with each other. Suddenly she felt a hand touch her knee and Gabriella jumped, her knee crashing into the table.

"Ow!" she yelped and Troy lost it laughing, Joanne turned around to the two and wasn't quite sure what had happened.

**"**What happened? Gabriella, are you alright?" she asked seeing the girl clutching her knee, which was slowly turning purple and watching as her son clutched his side laughing uncontrollably.

"My knee hit the table when I jumped, its okay," Gabriella replied through gritted teeth and Joanne eyed her, Gabriella was glaring at Troy who had finally calmed down and was looking at her innocently.

"Are you sure?" Joanne asked and Gabriella nodded, still glaring at Troy.

"Yep, very sure," she replied.

"Okay, well, can you and Troy set the table, please?" she asked and Gabriella nodded.

"Sure, who's feeding Mia?" Troy asked and Joanne laughed.

"Your father," she replied.

Troy nodded, stood up and stretched. Gabriella went slightly red as his shirt lifted and she caught a glimpse of his well toned mid drift all over again. She looked away and than up when he grunted.

"Come on, are you going to help me or not?" he asked and Gabriella nodded and stood up, well she made an attempt at standing up. As soon as she put weight on her knee it felt like it had given way and Gabriella reached for a solid object. The solid object just happened to be Troy's shoulder.

"Okay that hurt," she winced and she felt his strong arm encircle her waist.

"Whoa there Montez, you okay?" Troy asked looking down at her.

"I think my knee's been better," she replied her grip on him tightening as she made another attempt at putting some more weight on her knee.

"Probably, sorry about that," he laughed when her grip tightened again.

"Sure you are." She muttered.

Joanne watched the two, smiling as memories flooded her mind. The scene she was witnessing was something similar to what had happened with her and Troy's father, although at the time it had been her ankle, not her knee, and it had happened when they had been playing basketball not because she had smashed her leg into something.

"We can still set the table; you don't need me for that much support do you?" Troy asked and Gabriella shook her head.

"No, I'll be okay, but if I smash my knee again, I'm blaming you Bolton," Gabriella said with a smirk and Troy shrugged.

"Whatever you say Montez," he rolled his eyes and Gabriella hit him, and let go of his shoulder. She put some weight on her knee again and winced, but decided that she could walk.

"Alright, lets get this table done," she said and Troy nodded, his arm slipping from her waist.

"Good idea, follow me," Troy said and Gabriella watched as he walked out of the kitchen.

"Doesn't he need knives and forks?" she asked Joanne who laughed.

"He'll come back in, watch," she instructed, sure enough Troy walked in after a couple of seconds and went in search of knives and forks.

"He does it every time I ask him to set the table." Joanne informed Gabriella who laughed and followed Troy out of the kitchen.

"Your house is huge," she commented as they walked down the hallway.

"Thanks, I don't quite get why we have such a big house there's only three of us." Troy said and Gabriella raised her eyebrows.

"You're still not used to saying four people live in this house are you?" she asked and he turned to her, his brow furrowed.

"Mia," Gabriella said as an explanation and Troy mouthed 'oh'.

"No I'm not, its weird saying four people live in the house, I mean I've grown up saying that three people do," he admitted and led her into the dining room.

Gabriella laughed and they silently began to set the table. Every now and than Gabriella would glance up at Troy. She couldn't help but notice small things about him, like how his hair fell into his eyes, and how every now and than he would run his hand through it and it would sit in a certain way, before falling back into his eyes again. Once again, Gabriella found her eyes following the curve of his cheek down to his mouth. She looked away as an intense feeling of longing washed over her. As much as she didn't want to admit it, but a large part of her wanted to kiss him. Gabriella shook her head; she did not just think that. Did she?

Troy glanced up at Gabriella and he felt a small smile play on his lips. She really was beautiful. He'd never met a girl like her, she wasn't artificial she was real. Troy shook his head slightly, his thoughts were going around in circles and it was driving him nuts. She was possibly the only girl that had ever messed with his thoughts this badly and it freaked him out slightly.

"Hey Troy?" Gabriella voice broke through his thoughts and he snapped out of his reverie.

"Yeah?" he replied and looked at her.

"Do you have the other glass? Cause you only gave me one," she said and he nodded, the small smile on his face turning into a grin.

"Troy, give me the glass," Gabriella said playfully, she recognized that grin; it was the same one he'd worn when he'd touched her knee.

"How about I just do this?" he asked and with that he placed one hand on her hip and reached around her, moving closer to her as he did so. Gabriella smiled as he placed the glass down and she turned to look at him.

Their eyes met and Gabriella felt like she was suffocating as she felt his other hand rest on her other hip. One of her hands tentatively ran down his arm to his hand where it rested, while the other reached up to touch his cheek. Gabriella was surprised at how soft his face was, but instantly forgot about her surprise when she realized how close their faces were.

Troy watched Gabriella carefully, he could feel her hand on his cheek and he enjoyed the feeling of it. He knew that he was breathing carefully as he watched her tilt her head slightly and her eyes drift touch. Succumbing to what was only a moment away. Troy started to close the rest of the space between them.

Gabriella could practically feel his lips on hers, they were so close, all he had to do was close that tiny space between them and she would feel it.

"_How the hell did we wind up like this? Why weren't we able to see the signs that we missed and try and turn the tables?_" Gabriella and Troy pulled apart both blushing furiously. Gabriella fumbled for her phone and pulled it out.

"Hello?" she answered it, turning away from Troy.

Troy stared at her back and wondered exactly what had just happened between them. This wasn't going to go down well when she hung up.

"Okay, yeah, sure, I'll be right over, where am I? Oh, I'm at Troy's," Gabriella said blushing as she said that.

"Alright, I'll see you when I get there," he heard her say, Gabriella hung up and took a deep breath before turning around to face Troy again.

"Uh, that was Taylor, I've gotta to go and see her," she said and Troy nodded.

"Oh right, um, what happened?" he asked avoiding looking at her.

"I think Chad just broke up with her," Gabriella replied looking up at the ceiling.

"Okay, um, I'll see you later than," Troy said and Gabriella nodded.

"Sure, apologize to your mom for me will you?" she asked and he nodded.

"Sure," Troy nodded and Gabriella swallowed.

"Right, see you," Gabriella said and quickly made her way past him.

Gabriella stood on Troy's front porch and took a deep breath. Unable to believe what had just happened. She couldn't believe she had almost kissed him. It had felt like he had for a moment. Gabriella walked down the steps, and couldn't believe that in two weeks she'd gone from hating his guts, to liking him. She knew that she liked him now. But she still couldn't believe she had almost kissed him.

**A/N: What's going to happen next? If you hate my right now, you can tell me. But to point something out, Troy and Gabriella actually got along in this chapter. Just thought I'd point that out. **


	11. Caught In A Moment

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews!!!! Here's the next one!**

_**Chemicals React**_

**CHAPTER 11**

**CAUGHT IN A MOMENT**

Gabriella sat on Taylor's bed and watched as her friend paced back and forth across her room. Every now and than Gabriella would see a tear spill over and sigh as Taylor stopped talking a mile a minute and collapse on the ground, crying. She'd been watching this for the past thirty minutes and was secretly getting sick of it. Yes, Taylor was her best friend and yes the fact that she and Chad had broken up really broke her heart, but there was only so much she could take and seeing Taylor collapse in tears for the fiftieth time since arriving and being slightly annoyed with her for ringing up at such a crucial moment caused Gabriella to do something that she'd never thought she'd have to do. She grabbed the glass of water sitting on Taylor's dresser and she threw it over her.

"What? What was that for?" Taylor spluttered after a moments shock.

"Stop crying, because it won't bring Chad back," Gabriella snapped at her, letting her frustration show a little more than intended, Taylor stared at her in shock.

"Okay, I thought you'd be a little more sympathetic, mainly because I got you out of spending more time with Troy, the guy you supposedly hate," Taylor shot back and Gabriella sighed and closed her eyes, a small smile appearing on her face as the memory of his arm around her waist came flooding back.

"I don't hate him, and I am sympathetic, but seriously, you're testing my patience. You can watch somebody collapse in tears only so many times," Gabriella said rolling her eyes and Taylor looked at her, studying her best friend carefully.

"You kissed him didn't you?" the question caught Gabriella off guard and she answered without thinking.

"Almost, you rang up before our lips actually touched," she replied with a sigh and than her eyes widened as she realized what she had said.

"YOU ALMOST KISSED HIM?" Taylor shrieked and Gabriella jumped, her face screwing up at the sudden loud noise.

"Okay, Taylor, you just went from being a mouse to an elephant in the noise department and why do you care? Ten seconds ago you were lying on the floor in tears," Gabriella said still wincing from Taylor's shriek.

"Whatever, details, I want details, and don't you dare say there are none because you'd be lying to your best friend who really, _really_, needs her mind to be taken off what happened earlier. Please tell me something," Taylor begged her standing up and giving her a pleading look.

"You're not going to get anything from me, mainly because nothing happened, there are no details and_ why _does my phone keep going off when I get to something important?" Gabriella snapped as her phone rang for the second time that evening. She picked it up off Taylor's bed, which was where it had been sitting for the past half an hour and looked at who was calling. She blushed when she recognized the number.

"It's him, isn't it?" Taylor asked seeing her blush, Gabriella glared at her and than answered the phone.

"They broke-up," Troy stated and Gabriella sighed.

"I know are you over at his place?" she asked turning from Taylor, whose eyes had suddenly welled up again, Gabriella could tell she'd guessed who she had been referring to.

"Would 'kill me now' be an answer to your question?" he replied sarcastically and Gabriella laughed, suddenly forgetting what had happened between them before and falling into a conversation that seemed so familiar.

"Depends on how I interpret it," she replied.

"No, it depends on whether or not you decide to ignore or take notice of my tone of voice." Troy said and Gabriella could picture him shrugging.

"Troy, that's something that I would say," she stated rolling her eyes.

"Hmmm, you're right, how about this? Gabriella, I was being sarcastic and can you please kill me now because Chad has just started to throw his basketball at the brick wall in his backyard and I really don't want to make an attempt at stopping him," Troy sounded pained and Gabriella had a feeling that Chad had been doing more than just throwing basketball's at walls.

"Wanna swap? Taylor's been crying for the past thirty minutes." She informed him and than felt a bizarre rush of emotion as she heard him laugh.

"Yeah, sure, you dodge the balls while I deal with a crying girl. With your coordination and my brilliant ways of understanding the female mind, we'll get them to settle down in no time." Troy said just as sarcastic as before. Gabriella burst into laughter and he joined in.

"Okay, sure, was there a purpose to this call?" Gabriella asked calming down.

Troy was silent for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to bring up what had happened.

"Yeah, there is, I was looking over the project sheet and remember how Mrs Alexander gave us more work to do, as a punishment? Well, we have to do that movie review on 'Pride and Prejudice'." He said and Gabriella froze as soon as she heard the words.

"Oh my God, you're right. How did I forget about that?" she gasped hitting her forehead.

"You were probably to busy arguing with me," Troy said and Gabriella could see him smirking.

"Ha, ha you're hilarious. Seriously though, what are we going to do?" she asked him and than felt Taylor tap her shoulder, Gabriella motioned 'one second' with her finger and returned to her conversation with Troy.

"Well, there's no point in watching it tonight. Chad's already asked if I can stay the night, what about after practice tomorrow?" Troy sounded thoughtful and Gabriella racked her brain, wondering if she really wanted to come up with an excuse to not see him outside of school.

"Um, sure, that sounds okay, my house?" she replied and Troy blew out a breath.

"Yeah, unless you really want to talk to my Dad." He said and Gabriella laughed, ignoring Taylor who was now signaling for her to get off the phone.

"I don't think your Dad and I would get along that well, if he's anything like his son," Gabriella teased.

"Probably not, listen Gabriella, I've got to go, Chad just broke a window." Troy now sounded worried.

"Oh, have fun." Gabriella said and Troy grunted before hanging up. Gabriella sighed and hung up, she turned back to an annoyed Taylor. Gabriella took one look at her friends face and knew that Taylor was about to blow her stack at her.

"Chad?" Gabriella found herself saying weakly, she then found herself watching in amazement as Taylor suddenly collapsed in tears at the mere mention of Chad. For a moment she didn't know whether to laugh or to try and comfort her friend. Gabriella settled for sitting on the bed and silently stroking Taylor's hair. Knowing it was going to be a long night.

For the fiftieth time since arriving at school, Gabriella yawned. She was so tired. She'd spent half the night up comforting Taylor and trying to find out why exactly Chad had broken up with her and the other half trying to figure out what had happened with Troy. Given the fact that she hadn't had enough time to think about it, Gabriella felt more confused than she had in a long time. Troy was right when he'd said he'd won most of the arguments. He was the only one who had ever, really beaten her in an argument and now that she thought about it maybe that was part of the reason she felt so attracted to him. He seemed to know how to beat her and, although she would never admit it out loud, he had her stumped half the time. Gabriella knew that she didn't have Troy Bolton figured out and for some reason, she didn't really care that she had lost most of the arguments. If anything, every time they fought she found out more about him than she'd ever thought possible.

"Hey," Troy's voice pulled Gabriella out of her thoughts and she turned to look at him. He looked as tired and worn out as she did. Gabriella made a pathetic attempt at a smile.

"Hi, you look as good as I feel." she stated and Troy laughed.

"Thanks, I never knew that Chad could talk so much," Troy ran a hand through his hair as Gabriella laughed.

"I never knew Taylor could cry so much." Gabriella replied.

"So we still on for tonight?" Troy asked and Gabriella felt her heart speed up slightly, why had he done that? He'd made it sound like a date.

"Yep, who's going to write the review?" she asked and Troy shrugged.

"I dunno, you tell me. You're the smart one," he replied and Gabriella poked her tongue out at him.

"Again with the tongue poking? What are you? Twelve?" Troy laughed and Gabriella hit his shoulder.

"No, I'm just too tired to actually bother getting into an argument with you and tongue poking takes less energy." Gabriella said and he grinned at her and than watched as she yawned.

"Oh good, I don't have to worry about comebacks now." Troy sighed and Gabriella glared at him.

"Yes, lucky you," she agreed as the warning bell rang, they both jumped.

"Okay, look I have to go, so I'll see you at your house." Troy said and Gabriella nodded, only just realizing how close they had become.

"Sure, bye." She agreed and then watched as he jogged off; Gabriella wondered how they had become so comfortable with each other.

Troy sighed in relief as his Dad blew the whistle, signaling the end of practice. For a moment he wondered exactly how he had managed to stay awake through training and than grimaced as he remembered that if he had stopped his Dad would have made him lap the oval. An experience that Troy never wanted to repeat, it had been pure torture, like arguing with Gabriella. Troy felt a small smile pull at his lips as he thought about her. Suddenly he remembered that he was meant to be at her place and groaned. He was running late. She was going to kill him. Troy took off, wondering if he should shower and be late and risk getting his head bitten off. Or not shower and risk getting his head bitten off anyway. Troy shrugged, either way he ended up with no head. At least it could be a clean head.

"Taylor, stop crying, I can't hug you right now, no I can't we're on the phone remember?" Troy heard Gabriella voice before she opened the door and seriously hoped that Taylor hadn't put her in a bad mood. He really didn't feel like dealing with Gabriella in a bad mood, he'd become adjusted to their playful arguments even if they did end awkwardly, besides he was beyond tired. Troy jumped a bit when the door swung open and Gabriella appeared.

"Taylor, I've got to go," Gabriella hung up without bothering to hear what Taylor was going to say.

"Don't even try and say your late." Troy warned her and Gabriella shrugged.

"I wasn't going to. Are you okay?" Gabriella really didn't know why she had asked him that, it had made her sound like she cared. He just looked……different. He didn't look like the Troy she'd grown accustomed to, he looked tired and worn out.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" he replied and Gabriella shrugged.

"I dunno you just look……" she trailed off trying to find the words to describe him.

"Like you?" Troy guessed and Gabriella burst into laughter.

"Yes Troy, you look exactly like me, brown hair and all," she giggled and Troy rolled his eyes.

"That's not what I meant; I was talking about the fact that you look completely exhausted." Troy informed her.

"Exhausted is a good word for it," Gabriella admitted yawning to prove her point. She felt her stomach do a funny flip when Troy laughed.

"Way to be dramatic Montez, come on lets watch this movie before we both fall asleep in the doorway." Troy said and Gabriella nodded, agreeing with him and than laughing as he yawned again.

"So you have a choice between the six-hour version of 'Pride and Prejudice' or the two hour version." Gabriella said surprising herself with the fact that they had both versions. She glanced up and caught sight of Troy's horrified look and laughed.

"I, however, will take that look as a definite no to the six-hour version," Troy nodded in relief when he heard her say that.

"Good." He said closing his eyes, Gabriella looked over at him. He was stretched out on the couch and looked incredibly comfortable.

"Troy, don't go to sleep. You've got to watch this." Gabriella half-yelled at him. Troy's eyes snapped open and he stared at her. Gabriella felt herself go slightly red as she met his penetrating blue gaze.

"Thanks for reminding me Montez," he said annoyed at her, he'd just gotten comfortable.

"Sorry, now sit up. Cause I want to sit there." She replied, as the menu for 'Pride and Prejudice' appeared on the television screen. With a groan Troy shifted up so that there was room for her.

"Thank you." Gabriella smiled at him and settled herself down next to him, acutely aware of how close they were and the fact that she'd only gotten two hours sleep the night before. As she watched Keira Knightly walk across a boardwalk she felt her eyelids grow heavy and within seconds of the movie starting she was sound asleep.

Troy jumped a bit when he felt something heavy drop onto his shoulders. Turning his head, he made a strangled noise when he came face to face with a sleeping Gabriella. This wasn't good. He was used to his sister sleeping on him, not a girl his age, who happened to be the girl that was messing with his head really badly. Troy winced slightly as her head began to dig into his shoulder; he looked around for a pillow and found none. Rolling his eyes, he did the only thing he could do to relieve his shoulder from any more pain. Gently, he lifted his hands and took her face in his hand. Guiding her head, very, very gently Troy placed her head on his lap. Gabriella shifted slightly and sighed, she rolled to face the television and Troy breathed a sigh of relief, and rubbed his shoulder, glad he had done something before it had begun to really hurt. Almost unconsciously, Troy draped his arm over Gabriella's side and let his hand rest on her stomach. He smiled and than concentrated on the movie, guessing he would end up writing the review.

Gabriella shifted slightly as she began to become aware of her surroundings. She'd had such a nice sleep. Suddenly her eyes snapped open as she realized that she wasn't in her room and the thing her head was resting on wasn't her pillow and the noise was _not_ the piano music her mother played in the morning. Glancing down she saw an arm resting on her stomach and almost had a panic attack when she realized that it was only Troy. Her eyes widened when she registered what she had thought and that's when she remembered that she was in the living room, and the piano music was coming from the movie that was playing. Slowly she rolled onto her back and looked up.

"Hi." She whispered when she found Troy staring down at her.

"Hi." He replied meeting her brown eyes.

Gabriella smiled up at him, and found herself getting lost in his wonderfully blue eyes. She realized that her head was resting on his lap and found that she really didn't care. She found herself getting caught in the moment and reached up to touch his face again, wanting to feel it again.

Troy gazed down at the girl on his lap, and found himself getting caught up in the moment. He could feel her hand tentatively touching his face and a small smile flickered across his face. Troy moved his hand to her brown curls, which covered his lap, and gently ran his hand through them.

Gabriella smiled again as she felt his hands run through her hair, it felt so nice. Like he actually cared about her. Her hand ran from his face down to the hand that still rested on her stomach. Gently she picked it up and entwined their fingers. Troy smiled and both felt so lost in the moment that they didn't hear the car pull into Gabriella's driveway.

"Gabi! I'm home!" when Gabriella heard her mother's voice and the door open, her eyes widened and she tried to sit up quickly. Before Troy could stop her, Gabriella lost her balance and crashed to the ground. Troy stared at her and then burst out laughing, forgetting all about his fatigue as she glared at him.

"Oh that's real funny Bolton, you do know that it hurt right?" Gabriella snapped at him.

"Yep, that's what makes it so funny. Haven't you ever heard the saying 'It's only funny until someone gets hurt. Then it's hilarious!' Montez?" Troy replied getting up and stretching.

"Oh you're a funny one aren't you? First you make me bang my knee, and now you laugh when I fall of the lounge. No trying to be nice, just sarcastic comments." She shot back, both suddenly forgetting what had been happening a moment before.

"Hey, I'm not that sarcastic. Only around you, you seem to have a knack for bringing it out in me," Troy said and Gabriella rolled her eyes and stood up to face him.

"Brilliant, at least I know I can do something around you." Troy gave her a funny look and Gabriella shrugged.

"Give me a break, I just woke up," she said in reply to the look.

"I'll let you off this once Montez, now I'm going home." Troy nodded at her and they both turned to face Gabriella's mother who had been watching them curiously.

"Hi Mrs Montez, I'm sorry to have to leave so soon but your daughter knows how to drive me insane and my head will explode if I'm around her anymore," Troy said nodding at her mother.

"Okay." Mrs Montez nodded and Troy walked past her shooting Gabriella a soft look as he walked past her. Almost instantly Gabriella went a light shade of red and returned his look with a soft smile.

"What was that about?" Mrs Montez asked as soon as Troy had left the room. Gabriella gave her a mother an odd look.

"Nothing," she replied.

"Yes Gabriella the fact that you blushed when he looked at you was nothing." Gabriella raised her eyebrows at her mother; that had sounded like something Taylor would have said.

"It was nothing Mom. We were just……caught in a moment. That's all." Gabriella said and walked past her mother. She knew that she was right. They'd been caught in a moment that was it. But it had been so wonderful to be caught in that particular moment.

**A/N: I know it's been ages but things have really piled on top of me, my exams start next week, basketball hasn't stopped and indoor hockey is putting pressure on me to perform. So that's why it took me forever to update. So I can't promise an update soon, cause frankly I have no idea when I'm going to update. Sorry!**


	12. When Have You Ever?

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: Okay, good news first. Exams are almost over! I have one more to go and then I'm home free, also school finishes next week. The bad news, although school finishes my sport commitments don't so I'll work on the story in between all of my sport. Any way I hope you'll like this chapter! **

_**Chemicals React**_

**CHAPTER 12**

**WHEN HAVE YOU EVER?**

Gabriella sighed as she walked through the doors of East High. Her mind kept on returning to the previous day and, more importantly, Troy. She couldn't keep a small smile from slipping onto her face as she thought about his hand running through her hair. It had felt so nice, so, so nice. A small giggle escaped her as her locker came into view. Gabriella had never actually met anyone who could make her feel this, well whatever she was feelings she hadn't actually felt it before. Gabriella felt so……giggly and giddy. Not that it was actually going to last, Troy had a habit of managing to get her really annoyed within ten seconds of being around her. Gabriella grinned as she pulled open her locker.

"Hey Gabriella," Taylor's voice made Gabriella jump.

"Hey Tay, how are you?" Gabriella asked and honestly expected Taylor to start to cry or pour her heart out, instead she sighed and Gabriella turned to look at her.

"I'm okay, I'm over it." Taylor said sounding neutral and Gabriella studied her closely. She was lying, it was obvious, but Gabriella could also see some resilience and knew that while she was not over what had happened, she was doing her best and trying hard to get over it.

"Okay," she nodded and tried to sound convinced.

"I'm fine Gabi, really, you don't have to worry." Taylor insisted knowing that her friend didn't believe her at all. Gabriella nodded again, turning back to her locker and then spun back around when she heard Taylor's sharp intake of breath. Gabriella shot her an odd look when she saw that no-one they knew was standing there. Turning back to her lock, Gabriella reached into it, in search of her notebook. Suddenly, she felt someone poke her and she jumped, her hand hitting the top of her locker.

"TROY BOLTON I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" she yelled spinning around to slap his chest.

"Sorry," Troy laughed and she hit him again.

"That wasn't funny, first you bruise my knee and now you bruise my arm! Are you intent on torturing me physically and mentally?" Gabriella snapped at him and Troy shrugged.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" he replied and Gabriella rolled her eyes and turned back to her locker.

"If you feel the need to annoy me more then yes, I really want you to answer that." she replied sarcastically and turned back to him.

Gabriella suddenly realized that both Chad and Taylor were standing next to each other, looking the opposite way and realized how awkward the situation was. Especially since both Troy and Gabriella had forgotten that they were both standing there.

"Hi Chad," Gabriella greeted him and Chad grunted, Gabriella exchanged a glance with Troy and then looked at Taylor.

"Gabriella, can we go?" Taylor asked and Gabriella nodded.

"Um, can you meet me in the library at lunch and we'll put the assignment together then okay?" she said to Troy and he nodded.

"Alright, I'll see you then," Troy nodded and Gabriella smiled as she watched him drag Chad off.

"Sorry Tay, we kind of got carried away." Gabriella apologized to her friend who was still looking at the ground.

"It's okay." She replied and Gabriella bit her lip, unsure whether or not to believe her friend.

"Are you sure your okay?" Gabriella asked very concerned at the fact that her friend hadn't screamed at her for ignoring her and even more concerned that she hadn't started on her about the way she and Troy was acting.

"Gabriella I'm fine! Honestly, I'm just tired that's all," Taylor exclaimed and then wanted to take back what she said when her friend recoiled.

"Alright, I was just checking, you're kind of quiet," Gabriella held her hands surrendering to her friend.

"I'm fine, let's just get to class," Taylor said and Gabriella nodded and decided that it was better to let it go then to push her friend any further.

Gabriella turned the page quietly and began to read. He was late. Very late in fact. Suddenly she cracked a grin, truthfully if Troy was early she'd be very worried. She supposed it was one of his traits, along with annoying her and who knows what else.

"Hey," Troy slid into the seat next to her and Gabriella screwed up her face.

"You smell funny," she said and Troy chuckled.

"Your quick Montez, I've been at basketball and I figured you'd kill me if I was any later then I already am." He explained

"Bolton, if being late means that you'll smell like a normal person instead of a sweat band then I'm all for it," Gabriella said and Troy laughed and then an evil grin appeared on his face. Gabriella shot him a warning look; she didn't like the look on his face.

"Troy, if you do anything-" Gabriella let out a little squeal as he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed his face on her neck, using her as his towel.

"Now I feel so much better," Troy said removing his arms and stretching.

"Eww, Troy! That was disgusting! Couldn't you have used a towel?" Gabriella yelled hitting him; she was covered in his sweat and it felt so disgusting.

"Nah, you were closer." Troy settled himself into his chair and continued to grin as Gabriella wiped the last traces of sweat from her neck.

"Well, I feel honored." She said sarcastically and he laughed.

"Come on Montez; let's put this together before lunch is over." Troy said and Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"Troy, can you pass me that piece of paper?" Gabriella asked after a few minutes of silent working.

"Which piece?" Troy asked confused and Gabriella rolled her eyes again.

"Again with the eye rolling?" he asked.

Gabriella didn't reply instead she stood up and leaned over him to get the piece of paper she was talking about. Troy suddenly became aware of how close they were and how smooth the skin on her back seemed to be.

"Got it," Gabriella breathed and Troy nodded mutely.

Gabriella began to pull back when she suddenly realized how close she was to Troy. She gulped and turned her head and found herself face to face with him. Gabriella breathing became shallow as their noses touched. She bit her lip as she felt his hand touch her face. It was the first time he had done something like that and it felt so……wonderful.

Troy's thumb was gently stroking Gabriella's jaw line as he looked at her carefully. She was so close now; he could tell her breathing was shallow by the short bursts that he could feel on his cheek. Troy wasn't so sure that his breathing was all that steady either as he moved closer to her lips.

"Mr Bolton, Miss Montez! If you continue I'll have to ask you to leave!" The librarian appeared out of no where and both Troy and Gabriella let out a frustrated groan, every time they came so close something had to interrupt.

"Sorry," they both mumbled and she walked away as Gabriella sat back down in her chair.

"Right, so, now all we have to do is staple it together and it's all done." Gabriella said not looking at Troy, she felt flustered. They'd come so close all over again and at school too!

"Sure," Troy nodded and looked up at the ceiling, he'd come so close again! Why did librarians have to exist? Suddenly, he felt his pocket vibrate and winced. He knew who it was.

"Uh Gabriella, I've got to go, so can you do the stapling?" Troy asked and Gabriella nodded.

"Sure, I'll see you later." She answered and watched as he walked out of the library.

Sighing she began to pack up. There was paper every where, they'd had a paper fight and, fun as it had been, the floor was a mess. Gabriella shoved all the paper into the folder that she'd brought, cast her eyes around in case she'd missed something and walked out of the library. She was about to turn a corner when the sound of Troy's voice drifted towards her. Gabriella paused and waited for him to speak again, he'd sounded really frustrated.

"Chad, you've known me for seventeen years, when have you _ever _listened to me?" Troy asked and Gabriella could picture him running a hand through his hair. The sound of his voice came again and she listened hard.

"I never said I didn't like her, why would you think that?" he asked and Gabriella frowned, he couldn't be talking about what she thought he was could he?

"Chad I repeat, you've known me for _seventeen _years, when have you ever listened to me about a girl of all things?" Gabriella froze as she connected the dots. There was no way; he wouldn't have done that would he? He wouldn't have talked Chad into not going out with Taylor.

"My fault? How? You asked me what I thought and I told you the truth!" That was all Gabriella needed to hear, she wanted to turn around and walk the other way but she was frozen to the spot.

"Fine, I'll talk to you later." Gabriella heard him hang up.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, when she reopened them he was standing in front of her.

"Y-you talked him out of it." she stuttered, Gabriella couldn't think straight, she wanted to yell at him, she wanted to slap him three weeks ago she would have done all those things without a second thought but now she couldn't do that because he'd not only hurt Taylor but he'd hurt her now too.

"Gabriella let me explain-" she glared at him, anger suddenly coursing through her veins.

"No," she hissed venomously.

"What you heard wasn't what you think," Troy tried again desperate for her too listen to him.

"When have you ever listened to me about a girl? Troy, if that wasn't what I think it was then you've never been late for anything." Gabriella spat at him.

"Gabriella will you please just let me explain!?" Troy shouted losing his temper.

"No, because when have you ever listened to me?" she shouted and then turned around and walked away, ignoring his frustrated yell. How could she have been so stupid as to think that he was going to be different then what she thought her was?

Troy watched her retreating back, cursing himself for doing something so stupid. How was he going to get her to listen?

**A/N: I know it's been ages since I updated but as I said I had exams, I put a one-shot up because it didn't take that long to write, anyway, school finishes next Thursday so they should come sooner now cause I won't have any homework!**


	13. Before You

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: I told you this chapter would be up sooner than the last one! Thanks for all the great reviews, I really love them! Enjoy this chapter!**

_**Chemicals React**_

**CHAPTER 13**

**BEFORE YOU**

Gabriella stood and stared at her locker. It had been two days since she had last spoken to Troy, yelled at him actually. And, despite everything, she really was beginning to miss him. Something she wouldn't admit to anyone, even if Taylor had guessed. Sighing Gabriella pulled open her locker and started to sort through it. She still couldn't believe that he had talked Chad into breaking up with Taylor. It just didn't seem like something he would do. Gabriella shook her head; she had to stop thinking about him.

"Hey," Taylor said walking up to her friend, Gabriella glanced at her and then nodded slightly before turning her attention back to her locker.

"What's wrong Gabriella? You've been miserable ever since you met Troy in the library two days ago," Taylor asked gently and watched as her friend froze at the mention of Troy.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong. Everything's brilliant." Gabriella pasted a fake smile on her face and answered Taylor's question a little bit too quickly.

"Yeah right, what's wrong?" Taylor repeated and Gabriella just shook her head.

"It's nothing, really, I just……didn't sleep very well last night." Gabriella said turning to Taylor.

"Okay sure, whatever you say," Taylor nodded unconvinced as Gabriella shut her locker door.

"I'm fine," Gabriella said her eyes widening as she saw who was walking down the hall.

"What's wrong Gab?" Taylor asked seeing Gabriella's eyes widen.

"Nothing, lets just get to homeroom, I don't want Miss Darbus to kill us for being late." With that Gabriella grabbed Taylor's hand and pulled her down the hall and away from whatever had caused her eyes to widen.

Troy saw Gabriella pull Taylor in the opposite direction of him and let out a frustrated breath. He'd been trying to talk to her for the past two days and she always walked in the opposite direction. He really needed to explain to her about what she had heard and why he had said it. Besides, he'd grown so accustomed to talking to her, whether it was arguing or not and, even though he would never admit it under pain of death, he really did kind of miss her.

"Yo man, what's up?" Zeke walked up to his friend and Troy shrugged.

"Not much," Troy sighed and before Zeke could say anything more, he walked off, his mind working furiously as he tried to figure out how to get Gabriella to talk to him.

"So what do we have now?" Gabriella asked Taylor as they left homeroom. Taylor thought for a moment.

"English. Hey, we get our assignments back," Taylor exclaimed and Gabriella nodded unenthusiastically, she really didn't care about the assignments at the moment.

"Oh come on, be excited! Yours and Troy's assignment was the best one that I saw, you guys put so much effort into it." Taylor said and Gabriella just shrugged.

"I really don't care, as long as I'm never paired with him again." The venom in Gabriella's voice surprised Taylor as much as it surprised Gabriella. As miserable as she was, Gabriella knew that she was still furious at Troy for what he had done.

"Oooookay." Taylor said not really sure what had happened to her friend and not sure if she wanted to find out exactly why Gabriella had returned to hating him.

Troy watched as Gabriella walked into the room, she looked over at him quickly and then looked away as their eyes met. Sighing he watched as she sat down next to Taylor and began to talk to her. Now he was beginning to get annoyed with her and the way she was acting. Before his thoughts could any further Mrs Alexander rushed into the room and Troy pushed his thoughts aside, not before looking at the back of Gabriella's head one last time.

Gabriella stole a glance at Troy as Mrs Alexander arranged her things on her desk, he looked deep in thought. She bit her lip as she watched him snap out of his trance and look directly at her. Gabriella couldn't tear her eyes away from his as much as she wanted to.

"Miss Montez, I'd appreciate it if you actually paid attention during my lesson." Mrs Alexander's voice caused Gabriella to spin around in her chair and face the front of the room; her face felt like it was on fire as she ignored the looks she was getting from some of her classmates.

"Sorry," she muttered and Mrs Alexander nodded at her before turning her attention back to the rest of the class.

Troy rolled his eyes and slumped down in his seat. That had to be the first time Gabriella had looked at him without hostility in the past two days. Troy shook his head, and then turned his attention to what Mrs Alexander was saying. Every now and then, however, his eyes would stray to Gabriella and trace her brown curls, wishing he could run his hand through them again.

"Mr Bolton, Miss Montez, may I please speak to you about you assignment?" Mrs Alexander's voice broke through Troy's thoughts, his eyes snapped to look at her and then slid to Gabriella who was looking at him.

Sighing Troy stood and casually weaved his way in and out of the desks, walking past Gabriella without a glance.

Gabriella groaned softly and stood up as well, following Troy to their teachers desk and folding her arms tightly as they stood side by side, both pointedly ignoring the other.

"Well, Troy, Gabriella, I have to tell you how impressed I am with your assignment. I had my misgivings about pairing you two together-" Mrs Alexander stopped speaking as Troy snorted. Gabriella glared at him.

"Oh grow up." she snapped and Troy shot her a surprised look.

"Look who's talking." He shot back and Mrs Alexander cleared her throat.

"As I was saying, I had some misgivings about pairing you two together, given your……disagreements-" this time it was Gabriella who snorted and muttered something that neither Troy nor Mrs Alexander could hear.

"Have you got something to say Montez?" Troy suddenly snapped and turned to face her, Gabriella stared at him.

"Me? No, of course not. Why would I have something to say?" she asked feigning innocence.

"Hmmm, I don't know, let me think. Maybe because you think you know what you heard outside the library." Troy said pretending to think, Gabriella's eyes suddenly narrowed.

"Okay, first of all, I know what I heard Bolton, second of all, I didn't know you _could_ think." Gabriella shot back and Troy glared at her.

"Okay, first of all, you don't know what you heard because you didn't hear the start of the conversation; second of all, you know that I think, because it's how I beat you in all our arguments." Troy mimicked Gabriella and her fists curled into a ball.

"I have a mind Troy, I can connect dots. You were talking about Chad and Taylor when I heard you!" Gabriella exclaimed, ignoring the last part of his comment.

"You heard half of it! God Gabriella! This is what I've been trying to explain to you for the last two days! Except, because of your stupid stubborn streak, I haven't been able to explain anything to you!" Troy half-shouted, neither noticed that Mrs Alexander kept on trying to interrupt them or that the entire class had abandoned their work and where now following the argument with interest or Chad and Taylor who were watching in horror as they began to realize what their friends were arguing about.

"Troy that phone conversation couldn't have gone on for that long! I was left the library a few minutes after you did!" Gabriella shouted at him and he ran a hand through his hair.

"You left the library ten minutes after I did Gabriella, in case you've forgotten." He snapped at her and Gabriella felt like slapping him, she refrained from doing so with a great deal of difficulty.

"Fine, are you going to tell me what it was about now? I mean I am listening." She shot back and Troy let out a mocking laugh.

"Yeah, sure you're listening and you also haven't been ignoring me for the past two days!" Troy said sarcastically and Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"I don't understand you! You've wanted to talk to me for the past two days and, now, when I say I want to talk to you. You're being sarcastic!" she yelled.

"Gabriella, I know you won't listen to me! You're to busy being furious with me for breaking Chad and Taylor up!" Troy shouted and Taylor buried her head in her hands and Chad slid down in his seat as the class turned to look at them.

"Ha! So you admit you broke them up!" Gabriella cried triumphantly and Troy shook his head.

"I didn't break them up! You're putting words in my mouth!" Troy argued and Gabriella stared at him.

"I am not! You just said out of your own free will that you broke them up!" Gabriella pointed out.

"Okay, maybe I did say that, but that's not what I meant!" Troy tried again and Gabriella laughed.

"Then what did you mean, Troy? Please tell me because I am _dying_ to know!" Gabriella asked sarcastically, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Now your being sarcastic, but seeing as your 'dying' to know, I'll tell you. I found out about Chad and Taylor the day after the made out. He asked me what I thought about her and I told him the truth, I didn't like it." Troy took a breath and Gabriella stared at him, the anger in her body mounting at his words and the sarcastic way he was talking. "But that was before……that was before……" Troy trailed off, he didn't know if he could say it or not, he didn't know what he was going to say.

Gabriella waited impatiently for him to continue. She wanted, no she _needed_, to hear what he was going to say next. She needed to hear him say what she thought he was going to say.

"Before what? Before what Troy? Tell me!" Gabriella shouted, suddenly snapping, anger and misery showing in her voice as she stared at him in desperation.

Troy stared at Gabriella, at loss for word. He could see she needed to hear the rest of his sentence but he couldn't find the words to tell her. The classroom was dead silent as they stared at each other.

"Mr Bolton, Miss Montez, please go outside to compose yourselves." Mrs Alexander's voice shook a bit, but neither Troy nor Gabriella noticed.

Gabriella nodded and spun around; she stormed out of the classroom and knew that Troy was following her at a safe distance. What had he been about to say? Why hadn't he said it? Gabriella heard the door shut and she spun around to face Troy. Gabriella opened her mouth to shout at him, when he took her face in his hands and kissed her.

Troy had no idea what had come over him and he really didn't care as he felt Gabriella's soft lips kissing him back. Slowly he backed her towards the lockers opposite Mrs Alexander's classroom. Surprised at the fact that she seemed to be going willingly.

Gabriella felt her back hit some lockers and stopped moving, her hands coming up to hold Troy's shoulders from behind. They continued, only pulling back for air when absolutely necessary. Their kisses were full of anger, misery and passion. Gabriella could feel herself shaking as she felt his tongue moving hungrily in her mouth. Suddenly they heard the bell ring and Troy tore away from her, his breathing ragged. Gabriella felt his hand leave her face and rest on the locker just near her head, her eyes snapping open.

"I told Chad to break up with Taylor……before you." Troy told her, his heartbeat slowing down slightly.

"Before me?" Gabriella half-whispered, trying to control her shaking.

"Before I realized I didn't hate you, before I realized I'd fallen for you," Troy said and then pushed off the locker and Gabriella, knowing Chad would have gotten his books.

Gabriella's eyes followed him as he disappeared, her trembling hand finding her swollen lips. She couldn't begin to comprehend what had just happened as Taylor walked up, carrying her books as well as Gabriella's.

"Gabriella? Are you okay?" Taylor asked seeing the state her friend was in. Gabriella shook her head, unable to speak. His words echoing in her mind. Before you. She needed to talk to him.

**A/N: That might have been a little intense. I'm not really sure about this chapter. I hope some things were cleared up anyway, so if they weren't let me know! I can say I'll update soon now! So yeah, I'll update soon!**


	14. It's Okay, We're Okay

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: Okay here is the new chapter! If I go overboard with it you can let me know. I have this feeling that I might go overboard with it anyway! Enjoy it!**

_**Chemicals React**_

**CHAPTER 14**

**IT'S OKAY, WE'RE OKAY**

Gabriella stared at the whiteboard blankly. She wasn't listening to what her Chemistry teacher was saying; she was ignoring Taylor's desperate attempts to get her to pay attention to her and the horrible looks some of the other girls in her class were sending her and she was doodling on her notebook. Her mind kept on returning to Troy and the amazing feeling of his lips on hers. She hadn't seen him since they'd, well, made out in the hallway. Gabriella sighed and wished she hadn't screwed up as badly as she had. She should have just listened to what he was saying, instead of jumping to conclusions. But she hadn't and now he was as mad at her as she had been at him.

"Miss Montez, can you please tell me what I just said?" her teacher, Mr Craig, asked and Gabriella's head snapped up, she stared at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Miss Montez, I'm going to have to ask you to pay attention, even if daydreaming about Mr Bolton is more fascinating then the work we're currently doing." He asked and Gabriella went bright red.

"I wasn't daydreaming about Troy! I'm just tired……I mean, yes Mr Craig." Gabriella went a deeper shade of red as Mr Craig raised his eyebrows at her.

Taylor raised her hand "Mr Craig? Can you excuse Gabriella and I to get a drink?" she asked him and Mr Craig nodded, Taylor stood up and pulled her friend out the door before Gabriella could dig herself a deeper hole then she was in.

"What is wrong with you Gab? You've been spaced out ever since English!" Taylor hissed at her when they were safely in the girls bathroom, Gabriella didn't reply, instead she splashed her face with water.

"Gabriella, answer me please! What happened in the hallway?" Taylor asked and Gabriella turned to look at her.

"We made out in the hallway." Gabriella said simply and Taylor stared at her.

"What?" she asked dumbly and Gabriella closed her eyes and leaned against the wall.

"Mrs Alexander kicked us out and when Troy shut the door I turned around to yell at him and he kissed me, and then pushed me up against the lockers opposite Mrs Alexander's classroom and we kissed until the bell rang." Gabriella stated and Taylor suddenly realized that she was telling the truth. Gabriella had had swollen lips when she had come out of the classroom, she'd been shaking and had been spaced out ever since then.

"Okay, so you made out with Troy in the hallway up and you were pressed up against the locker and he was pressed up against you?" Taylor asked honestly expecting Gabriella to laugh and shout 'Got ya!'.

"Basically." Gabriella nodded and Taylor suddenly felt like she needed to sit down.

"This is the same Troy Bolton you said that you hated with a passion?" Taylor asked and Gabriella nodded again.

"Whoa, Gabs that's hot, I think you and Troy are the only ones who can get away with doing something like that without making it seem……" Taylor trailed off searching for the right word to sum up what she was thinking.

"Completely revolting and something that the cheerleaders would do to get attention?" Gabriella finished off joining Taylor on the floor.

"I was going to say something different but that'll work too." Taylor agreed and Gabriella groaned.

"What do I do Taylor? He won't look at me, he won't talk to me and I have no idea where he is." Gabriella said and Taylor shrugged.

"You could try and talk to him. I mean you know he has to go home sometime, so just go see him when he's at home." Taylor said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and Gabriella looked at her.

"Your back with Chad." She said curiously and Taylor shrugged.

"Yeah, we kind of got back together after your 'big' argument with Troy. Where you both let on what you knew about our break-up. You realize that both you and Troy tend to reveal stuff when you're furious at each other don't you?" Taylor asked as they heard the bell ring, signaling the end of the day.

"Well, at least something seems to be going right in the world." Gabriella sighed and then exchanged a look with Taylor and both girls burst into laughter at Gabriella's dramatics.

Breathing deeply Gabriella walked up the pathway that led to Troy's front door. She took a deep breath and then raised her hand to knock on the door. Before her hand came into contact with the door, it swung open to reveal a dressed up Joanne Bolton looking harried.

"Hi Joanne." Gabriella said softly as Troy's mother looked at her.

"Gabriella! What a nice surprise! You're looking for Troy aren't you?" Joanne waited for the girl to nod before continuing quickly "Well, he's out the back on the court, practicing, you can go through and find him. I hate to leave you like this but I have to get going, we're running late." With that Joanne brushed past Gabriella and ran towards the car that was slowly beginning to back out the driveway.

"Um, thanks." Gabriella said as the car drove away, gulping she walked into the house and dropped her bag onto the table sitting by the door.

Walking quietly, Gabriella found the silent Bolton household incredibly creepy as she walked into the kitchen. Sighing in relief she found the door that led to the backyard and opened it. She walked through and shut the door behind her. Pausing for a brief moment she watched as Troy moved across the court, making it seem like he wasn't trying at all. He looked so at home. To Gabriella he seemed to be more comfortable and at home on the court on his own then he did walking through the hallways of East High with his best friends by his side.

Slowly she walked towards the court, wondering if he'd seen her coming or not. This felt really weird; she wasn't sure what she was going to say to him and she didn't know if he wanted to talk to her. Gabriella looked down in surprise as she felt something bounce into her shin. Bending down she plucked the basketball from the ground and looked up to meet Troy's blue eyes, which showed no emotion. Gabriella suddenly found her voice.

"Can you teach me how to shoot?" she asked quietly, holding up the ball and, after a moment, Troy nodded slightly.

Gabriella walked over to him and stopped right in front of him; she turned to face the hoop and held the ball up. Troy didn't speak as he gently moved her hands into the right position, Gabriella shivered slightly at his touch and his hot breath on her neck. When he was satisfied with the positioning of her hands, Troy ran his hands down her body to rest on her hips from behind and then spoke for the first time since she'd arrived.

"Bend you knees," he whispered in her ear and Gabriella felt him apply downward pressure to her hips, she obediently bent her knees and then shivered again as he whispered in her ear once more.

"Now shoot." Troy's voice was soft as Gabriella threw the ball into the air; it hit the backboard and rebounded to the side. Neither Troy nor Gabriella moved as the sound resounded through the yard.

Gently Troy turned Gabriella to face him after a moment. She looked up at him and for the first time since meeting her Troy saw how scared she was being there with him. He could tell she was no longer angry with him and he could see she was no longer confused. But he knew that she was scared and he had no idea why she was scared.

Gabriella stared up at Troy and wondered how things could have changed so quickly. This morning they'd had the screaming match of the century and now they were standing in his backyard as close as they had been this morning, but it was different. It was different because there was no anger, there was no hurt, there was just an emotion there that they both felt but couldn't put a name too. Suddenly Troy sighed and let his forehead drop to rest on hers.

"You are the stubbornness person I have ever met." Troy told her quietly and Gabriella grinned.

"Since when do you talk like that?" she asked teasingly and Troy let out a chuckle.

"Since you became the only girl I listened to." He replied and Gabriella laughed.

"Well, just to let you know, you are the most exasperating, annoying, smartest, basketball-orientated jerk I have ever met." Gabriella said and Troy feigned hurt.

"Well then, you are the most infuriating, frustrating, know-it-all, book-orientated geek I have ever met." Troy shot back and Gabriella laughed, loving the way his blue eyes twinkled as he said it.

"I know." She said and Troy grinned and then suddenly they were both turned serious.

"I'm sorry Troy, for everything." Gabriella whispered, reaching up and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I'm sorry too," he replied and Gabriella smiled.

"Who knew that falling for you would be so easy?" she asked cheekily, breaking the mood, and Troy laughed.

"Who knew falling for you would be so difficult?" he shot back and Gabriella shrugged still smiling.

"Hey, you're the one that did it," she reminded him and Troy snorted.

"Yeah, even though at the time I was so certain that I hated your guts. Let's not forget you though Miss, you did exactly the same" He said and Gabriella hit his shoulder and then laughed.

"You're right, for the record though, I hated you first." She grinned and Troy suddenly turned serious, his blue eyes darkening and the smile dying on his face. Gabriella bit her lip and wondered what was happening.

"Well then, for the record, I loved you first." Troy said softly and Gabriella stared at him in complete shock, wondering if the words had actually come out of his mouth. She shook her head when she realized that they had and then looked at him, her heart rising as she saw that he was telling the truth. Gabriella could feel herself blushing as she found her voice.

"For the record then, I love you too." She told him quietly and then they both grinned, Troy letting out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, almost unable to believe that she was serious, but one look at her face told her that she wasn't lying. Leaning down he kissed her.

Gabriella responded warmly to the kiss, so different from the ones that they had exchanged that morning. It was soft and slow and completely unhurried. Gabriella smiled against his lips as she felt him lift her up off the ground. She hardly realized that she was crying from relief as Troy set her down, breaking the kiss.

Troy smiled at the girl in front of him and removed a hand from her waist to gently wipe away a tear that was slowly sliding down her cheek.

"Its okay Gab, we're okay." He told her softly and Gabriella nodded reaching up to kiss him again, before either could really enjoy the kiss, they both heard a cry come from the house and Gabriella pulled back, looking at Troy questioningly and Troy sighed.

"Mia's awake." He said and Gabriella smiled.

"Okay, go and get her, I'll help you look after her tonight." She said and Troy grinned and pressed another kiss to her lips.

"Thank you." He whispered in her ear before running to the house to attend to his sister. Gabriella hugged herself and looked up at the sky.

"It's okay, we're okay." She whispered and then laughed out loud, feeling giddy as she followed her new boyfriend into the house.

**A/N: That has to be the most clichéd thing I have ever written! I know I said this last chapter but I'm really not sure about this chapter either, it seems really…..strange. Anyway, it is my painful duty to say that there is only one more chapter left in this story and then I'll be concentrating on 'Shooting For The Stars'. I'll update soon!**


	15. Chemicals Reacting

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters. **

**A/N: This is the last chapter to 'Chemicals React' and there may be a sequel, note the word may, I'm also contemplating a sequel to 'Saving Me' and I'm writing 'Shooting For The Stars' so there's going to be a lot to keep me busy! As sad as I am that this story is finishing, I'm looking forward to writing all of the others that have planned! Also thanks for all the brilliant reviews, I cannot believe that I have got over five hundred!!! It's awesome to know that my writing is being appreciated! **

_**Chemicals React**_

**CHAPTER 15**

**CHEMICALS REACTING**

Gabriella dodged the crowd as she walked through the doors of East High. It was still exactly the same; she could see the cheerleaders giggling over the latest basketball game. She shot them an amused look as she passed, finding it amusing that they giggled over the same thing every Monday morning. She glanced to her left and observed the boys talking excitedly about the basketball game and how well the team had played. She refrained from rolling her eyes with extreme difficulty and then continued walking. She came up to her locker and chose to ignore the cheerleaders giggling over the hottest basketball player at the game. She yanked her locker open and began to rummage around in it, searching for the right book.

"Hey Gabriella." Taylor walked up to her friend and leant against the locker next to hers.

"Hey Tay, we have Chemistry first don't we?" Gabriella asked still concentrating on finding her book.

"No, we have English then Chemistry." Taylor replied examining her nails, Gabriella glanced at her and then rolled her eyes.

"Okay then." She muttered. Gabriella turned back to her locker before turning to see the commotion. When she saw what it was all about, Gabriella rolled her eyes and slammed her locker door shut.

"Ooooh, someone's in a good mood." Taylor commented as they began to walk down the hallway away from the commotion.

"Oh yeah, tell me this. How did the basketballer's become the living Gods of this school?" Gabriella asked ignoring the shocked looks coming from a group of girls they were passing.

"I don't know, it could be that they are incredibly talented." Taylor suggested, knowing perfectly well that two words could send her best friend into a rant, instead of actually saying them she skirted around the subject.

"They are not incredibly talented. More like clumsily athletic." Gabriella snorted and Taylor raised her eyebrows at her.

"You do realize that you just contradicted yourself when you said that right?" Taylor asked and Gabriella shrugged as they came to a stop outside their homeroom.

"So? It's true, they're really clumsy when they're not on the court." Gabriella said the menace in her voice obvious to Taylor.

"What did he do this time?" Taylor asked with a sigh and Gabriella looked at her innocently.

"Who?" She asked sweetly and Taylor folded her arms crankily.

"Troy Bolton." Taylor replied feeling Chad unfold her arms and take her hand. Gabriella smiled at Chad and then turned her attention back to Taylor.

"What about Troy?" Gabriella asked and felt two strong arms slip around her waist.

"Yeah, what about me?" Troy asked glancing at his girlfriend curiously, Gabriella turned to him.

"We were talking about you, not to you." She snapped at him and Troy raised his eyebrows at her tone, he knew that look too well.

"Well then stop talking about me and talk to me Montez." He said pulling her even closer to him just to annoy her.

"No. You know what you did." Gabriella replied trying to squirm away from him and failing miserably.

"Oh really? What did I do? Because last time I checked I'm pretty sure that I didn't do anything horrible on the weekend." Troy said his arms tightening as Gabriella continued to struggle to get away from him.

"How could you not remember? You broke my chair because you have absolutely no coordination! Then you broke a plate in front of my Dad!" Gabriella exclaimed furiously and Troy glared at her.

"Okay, if my memory serves me correctly you helped me break that chair because you sat on my lap and I don't have enough coordination for two people, in case you haven't noticed but coordination is kind of a one person thing. And as to the plate thing, your Dad found the fact that I broke that plate hilarious because as he said, it takes a man to know how to play basketball and know nothing about the kitchen, including where his daughter decided to leave her schoolbag!" Troy shot back crankily and Gabriella glowered at him, Troy stared back unflinchingly.

"Okay then smarty, why didn't you call last night? If my memory serves correctly as you say, you promised me after the game that you'd call me because I barely got to see you on Saturday." Gabriella spat at him and Troy frowned, knowing he wouldn't be able to talk his way out of this one.

"I……got busy." He tried and she continued to glower at him, Troy glared back knowing she was about to blow up.

"That isn't an excuse Bolton! I got busy! God even you can come up with better excuses then that! Especially seeing as I actually gave you time to-" Troy cut her off by capturing her mouth firmly with his own, knowing no matter how mad she was at him there was no way she was going to pull away.

"Get a room you two." Troy pulled away at the sound of Taylor's disgusted voice and grinned at her over Gabriella's head.

"We're still better then you two." Gabriella pointed out tartly before pulling Troy back down for another kiss, her arms winding around his neck pulling him even closer to her.

Taylor rolled her eyes and Chad chuckled as he watched his best friend and his girlfriend's best friend together. They had to be one of the strangest couples he had ever seen. One minute they were arguing, the next standing in the hallway acting like they couldn't get enough of each other. Finally Gabriella pulled away from him.

"You are such a jerk when you want to be, you know that right?" she said pulling away from Troy completely, he shrugged.

"Hey I'm just reacting to you." Troy shrugged rewrapping an arm around Gabriella's waist and looking down at her with a sly grin; she gave him a warning look but slipped her free arm around his waist anyway.

"Whatever." Gabriella muttered as they turned to Taylor and Chad.

"You guys are really weird you know that right?" Taylor asked and both Troy and Gabriella shrugged.

"Yep," Gabriella replied rolling her eyes at Taylor.

"How are we weird?" Troy asked nodding at a few people who had greeted him. Chad snorted slightly at his best friend and then stopped himself from saying anything when Gabriella shot him a stony look.

"Your together when the only thing you actually do is argue." Taylor explained and Troy and Gabriella exchanged a glance and then looked back at their friends wearing matching smiles.

"Nah, we're just reacting to each other that's all." They both said and laughed when Taylor shook her head at them and pulled Chad away, Gabriella turned to Troy before they followed their friends.

"What?" he asked when he saw the look on her face.

"So, we're just reacting to each other?" Gabriella asked innocently and Troy laughed at her innocence.

"Yes Montez, we're just reacting." He replied and then kissed her quickly as Miss Darbus walked up.

"Good, I'd hate to think we were something like chemicals reacting." Gabriella grinned and Troy laughed again.

"To be chemicals reacting we'd have to have longer names." Troy pointed out and Gabriella just shrugged and kissed him again.

"I kind of liked the idea that we were chemicals reacting." She said and Troy just shook his head as she slipped out of his embrace and into the room. He watched her through the open door and then thought about what she had said. _'Chemicals reacting_' Troy thought and then shrugged, now that he thought about it, it was probably a good way to describe them. After all when you throw to chemicals together, you're bound to get a reaction and when they'd been paired together, they'd definitely reacted.

"Troy, class is going to start!" Troy shook his head as he heard her voice, she now sounded annoyed with him, slowly he walked towards her. When he reached Gabriella, Troy casually slung an arm around her neck and started talking to Chad.

Gabriella glanced at her boyfriend and then grinned as he pulled her closer to him and whispered in her ear.

"Chemicals reacting, nice one Montez." Gabriella kissed Troy's cheek as Miss Darbus called for the class to quiet down. They definitely where chemicals reacting and they'd definitely reacted in a good way.

**A/N: The end! Don't worry; I have an idea for a sequel, so I'll get to work on that! Anyway, thanks for all the brilliant reviews! I know I said that before but I just want to know how much they're appreciated! I hope you had as much fun reading this story as I had writing! So now I'm off to finish the next chapter on 'Shooting For The Stars' and maybe start the sequel to this story! **


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